[Previous entry: "August 9 - Olduvai Gorge"] [Next entry: "August 12 - Stone Town, Zanzibar (Tanzania)"]

Today was our final game drive of the trip. Ngorongoro is a huge caldera/crater that was formed from a collapsed volcano, and has become the permanent home for a wide variety of animals.

Ngorongoro is a Maasai word for "ringing bells" -- the crater is Maasai land, and their herds of cattle often wear bells, thus the ringing bells. We are staying on the rim of the crater, and it gets cold! I'd say that this morning it was probably around 55 degrees.

This morning we descended into the crater early, and immediatly we started seeing animals...almost like being in a zoo. The crater is home to the black rhino, but unfortunately we didn't see any of those. We did see a cheetah (closer this time), who showed major interest in a herd of gazelles nearby, but sadly for him, all the safari vehicles ruined his game plan. We also saw a large family of lions and watched them for a long time - there were females, young males, and 2 cubs. We had our lunch next to a freshwater lake full of hippos, and we had a great time making fun of the "safari tourists" in dorky hats :) In this area there are birds called "Kites" that like to swoop down and steal lunches, so we ate in our car and intently watched those who were eating outside...a couple of lunches were almost toast!

Animals we saw today:
Buffalo
Grant Gazelle
Silver Backed Jackel
Wildebeest
Warthog
Zebra
Elephant
Thomson Gazelle
Hartebeest
Hippo
Spotted Hyena
Lion
Cheetah
Baboon

Birds:
-Ostrich
-Augur Buzzard
-Kori Bustard
-Crested Crane
-Guinea Fowl
-Red Egret
-Secretary Bird
-Kite
-Egyptian Goose