After a luxurious night at the Plantation Lodge, we were well-rested and ready to charge off for day two of our game-viewing Safari. A short drive brought us to the entrance of the Ngorongoro conservation area. Our drivers got us safely up the rugged road to the rim of a great collapsed volcanic caldera. For a time, as we drove around the cloudy rim, the "crater" was hidden from view, but eventually we started down into the bowl and could see the full extent of the valley. Joseph and Erik took us on the network of rough dirt roads around the interior of the crater until we'd seen our fill of wildebeest and zebra, hippos and gazelles, warthogs and Cape buffalo. We spied one of the rare black rhinos from some distance -they are shy- and kept our eyes peeled for more. We caught ostriches sharing a private moment, and then topped that experience by witnessing a pair of lions getting to know one another. The day was pretty magical... there were a few stray elephants thrown into the vast mix of wildlife. Today we were seeing full herds of animals rather than ones and twos of a species and that meant that we were often surrounded in our land cruisers... happily so. We left the crater and visited a traditional Masai "boma" This village on the rim housed a nomadic extended family. We watched traditional dances and toured the simple homes formed of sticks and dung. It was a view into a vastly different world than our own and we tried to understand how these herdsmen lived in the land of lions and leopards with only spears for protection. We were back at our own nomadic village -The Plantation Lodge, before sundown and enjoying the garden like setting and warm hospitality. Tomorrow we'll head for Tarrangire National Park. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team