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Title image - BAI takes you to:  Kilimanjaro
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Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

February 6, 2010 – The Wonders of the Ngorongoro Crater

The expanse inside Ngorongoro Crater

The expanse inside Ngorongoro Crater.

This is Dave and Darcy with our dispatch from the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge.

I have no idea where to start because it’s been such an incredible day, but I’ll start with the crater. The Ngorongoro Crater is vast, beautiful and incredibly unique! It is approximately 20 kilometers in diameter and home to over 30,000 large animals, mainly ungulates with only the giraffe exempt from the list of crater dwellers! It is also a birdwatchers paradise!

We had barely arrived in the crater when a group of hyenas made a wildebeest kill, evidenced by their bloody red heads. It was interesting to see that the hyenas work together to make a kill but once successful, it is every hyena for him or herself. They don’t share the spoils!

This lion was REALLY comfortable with us.

This lion was REALLY comfortable with us.

Shortly after, we found a large male lion stalking a lone wildebeest. The male was so close to our Land Cruiser that you could see his muscles flex. The lion’s concentration was unbelievable; he never even acknowledged the five or six vehicles that were near him. He walked with such stealth that you would wonder how any animal would ever detect his advance. However, today favoured the lone wildebeest that did notice the lion and quickly retreated.

Later we saw hippos, black rhinos, white rhinos, more lions, warthogs, zebras and a baby wildebeest taking its very first steps with its mother cleaning it. It was born just as we drove up! I wondered how this little creature would be able to run with the adult wildebeest herd the next morning, when the cycle would begin all over and the hyenas would again pursue the wildebeest. We also came face to face with an elephant whose tusks were so long, they nearly touched the ground. Aziza told us that this elephant was well protected from poachers in the crater, allowing it to grow very old, perhaps 60 years or more.

Access into and out of the crater is by a very steep, very rough road which our guide Aziza drove with skill and ease in her Toyota Land Cruiser! All this in one day!

The Tree Tops Lodge was over the top, but the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is above and beyond. After our tour of the crater, our personnel butler, Remingi, ran a hot bath for Darcy complete with rose petals, chocolates, a clean bath robe and slippers. Lunch and dinner was "to die for" and the restaurant decorated with African art, ebony carvings, and several wood burning fireplaces was beautiful. A Maasai Warrior escorted us back to our lodge, where the fireplace was already burning and our bed was turned down with chocolates on the pillows and slippers at the bedside. Hot tea was delivered to start the morning and our laundry arrived in a basket, wrapped in silk. Royalty would not have been treated any finer!

Until tomorrow, this is Dave and Darcy thoroughly loving life.

Zebras with the crater rim in the background

Zebras with the crater rim in the background

Hippos are a comfy resting place for the local birds!

Hippos are a comfy resting place for the local birds!

A herd of wildebeest living inside the crater.

A herd of wildebeest living inside the crater.

Some hyenas with a fresh wildebeest kill.

Some hyenas with a fresh wildebeest kill.

A lone lion trots casually by us.

A lone lion trots casually by us.

This elephant is estimated to be about 60 years old.

This elephant is estimated to be about 60 years old.