Kilimanjaro: Hahn & Team Explore Ngorongoro Crater and Maasai Village
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
We may be just tourists now, but today we still got an “alpine start”. It was still pitch dark as we were driving away from the lodge at 5:40 AM. Our guides had recommended the early start for Ngorongoro Crater as a way to see better wildlife. Most animals are a bit more lively in the cool mornings than in the hot afternoons. The light came up as we were crawling toward the caldera rim in our landcruisers. After a bumpy ride in the clouds along the rim, we made an important stop at a Maasai village. We wanted to learn a little more about this colorful tribe (one of 128 in Tanzania) hanging on to their traditional ways in a rapidly changing world. They greeted us with singing, then showed how they make fire without matches or lighters. They took us into their Boma (village) and into their homes. We thanked them for taking the time to answer our many questions and then we headed for the “crater” Immediately upon reaching the valley floor we began seeing bigger and bigger herds of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra and gazelles. There were a few ostriches mixed in for variety. Eventually we did a picnic breakfast -spitting distance from a flock of hippos. By the time we followed up with a picnic lunch, we’d seen rhinos, lions and elephants. There was a bonus encounter with a skittish cerval cat. We climbed out of the caldera around 3 PM under still cloudy skies, but it was a pretty good day all around. After a bunch more rough roads, we were back at the ultra-comfortable Plantation Lodge at 4:30.
Tomorrow we’re bound for the land of elephants -Tarangire.
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
PC: Dave Hahn
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