Ngorongoro Crater Day 2

Wow!  The second day started with a beautiful sunrise.  What a way to be greeted.  We can't get to the crater until 6am since that is the earliest the gate opens. So we opted for 7 or so to make our way down. The road down is a little steep so you don't want to look down. 

Our first sighting was of a couple of male lions which were laying in the grass and then we came upon a zebra kill that must have happened earlier in the night. Below is one of the lioness who was laying fat and sassy from her kill. Notice she is covered in flies because of the blood on her from eating the zebra. 

The crater was the only place we ran into a lot of land cruisers. I think at most we ran into 8 at different sights with everyone crowding in for a picture. 

There were also several hippo pools. Here is one of them. You have to admit they are kind of disgusting laying in that water all day. 

We ran into hyena packs several times.  Including one place where they were sleeping around a pool that was visited by a jackal and family of warthogs.  They must have been well fed since they didn't lift up their heads. 

The crater was amazing. You constantly saw sights where zebras were hanging out with Thomsom gazelles, wildebeest, buffalo and warthogs. I was also glad to see two famous animals.  We saw at least 6 rhinos which most people never see down here and 10 elephants.  Both animals came down in the 1980s to escape poachers. At some point these two animals will be gone if females don't mate with some of these males. 

What is also interesting about the crater is the topography.  There are soda pools for flamingos and ponds for hippos. There is a forest for animals to hide in.  Then there is a swamp and grasslands. Truly a diverse environment. 

One nice thing is we had a nice box lunch at a hippo pool. I couldn't imagine a better place to relax. There must have been 35 or more land cruisers at the parking lot. 

Most of our time was stopping for the big 5 as well as birds and smaller animals we hadn't seen yet. What is truly amazing is how multiple species coexist next to each other. As Steve says it is truly a very special place. 

I am praying this old tusker survives. We ran across him at the end of the day and he had the longest tusks we saw down in the crater. Notice that he lost part of his trunk since it is much shorter. But we saw him eat so we know it doesn't interfere with his eating.  But his back right leg had a gash and he was walking slowly and he tried to not put much weight on that foot. So I hope he can overcome this injury. 

So I feel very privileged to visit this very special place.  I hope the conservation can insure that it remains special and protected.