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On The Map

On The Map

On The Map

Elephants are among the “Big Five” most dangerous animals to hunt—if you’re into that kind of thing. We simply wanted to see the five, and Ngorongoro Crater was our best chance of accomplishing that. So there we were, up on the rim of the giant caldera, bouncing like crazy in the Land Cruiser on a washboard road. We came around a blind corner in the fog and skidded to a stop because an enormous bull elephant was squarely in the middle of the road—and not inclined to move for us. In fact, he made it quite clear that we needed to show some deference to resolve the situation. Johnson, our driver and guide, wisely put the cruiser in reverse while the big guy took a victory walk. So we had one of the five before even dropping into the gigantic “crater” full of wildlife.

We’d barely hit the crater floor before notching up numbers two and three. We immediately saw Cape buffalo and sleepy lions. Then came gazelles, zebras, wildebeest, warthogs, jackals, hyenas, ostriches, and hippos. It was a bit overwhelming.

By afternoon, we were trying hard to spot rhinos. We scored number four by spotting four sleeping rhinoceroses at a distance. Full disclosure: we saw them because a bunch of other Land Cruisers were stopped and pointing. But we also got to see a rhino that no one else saw, thanks to Arthur’s sharp eyes.

We tried to find a leopard—number five—on our way back out of the crater, but didn’t luck out. A visit to a Maasai village on the rim rounded out our big day.

Best regards,
Dave