Safari Vacation in Tanzania - Day 5

April 5, 2012
We go into the Ngorongo crater today.  Imagine a big Monopoly play board - very flat and then a bunch of animals are laid out on top of it.  The floor of the crater, really a caldera, covers 260 square km  (100 square miles). 

We see our first male Lion in the distance. ok, not really impressive, but we were excited to see one.

followed by a Wildebeast

and another

  and where there is one, there are many

And a few ducks

 

This view shows how flat the crater floor is and the grass is also short.

and the wall of the crater in the background with lots of animals

There is a lake and on it are a lot of Flamingos  - Every one of those little pink things.  We could not get closer as the roads don't go there.  The reason is that the lake gets much larger in the rainy season.

and a bird

and another  - if I could just learn to focus with an auto-focus camera

Then Niety, our driver said, while looking through binoculars, "There is a Hippo on the land"

and a bird

Then Niety, our driver said, while looking through binoculars, "There is a Rhino" .Our first siting.  It looked the size of the tip of a pencil.  With my camera's telephoto, I hoped I got this shot.

 
 I caught these guys in flight

 and more lions.  What is that guy on the right doing?

Probably the same as this guy

and there is an endless supply of stuff to look at.

This guy did not quite make it.

one Egrit

lots of Egrits

and Egrits are a companion for a Hippo and eat the stuff in the wounds in the Hippo's skin.  That is a helpful thing.

and a bird.. lol

and ... yawn ... another lion

 what is interesting here is that the lions are not that far from the Wildebeast

and a bird

Wow, look at this. 

I am not sure I can explain this, but it is a bit of a fight over something

Sometimes the roads were not so good.  While this is the rainy season, the real rains had not yet started.  We heard that Safari folks have sometimes had to get out in the mud and help dig and push out their vehicles.

I really like this picture.  The clouds, the mist, the endless numbers of animals.

and this one

and more with birds

and this gal was in the hunt mode.  But the Baboons had alerted any food supply nearby.

so she gave up for awhile

Meanwhile this Hyena found a snack and took it home.  What part do you think it is ?

From quite a ways away, he actually carried this thing in his mouth across the road directly in front of us and then kept on going.

And back to lions - a tough life with endless food.

end of day 5 and we stayed at the same hotel