Ngorongoro, rim to floor
We left the lodge on the rim at 6:15 AM and descended into the crater as the light came up. The rim-to-floor drive is itself worth the trip — you go from cloud forest to grassland in twenty minutes.
On the floor the concentration is almost unbelievable. Wildebeest and zebra everywhere. Warthogs trotting. A herd of Cape buffalo. Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles scattered through. Within our first hour we had found a black rhino (distant, which is the right distance) and a pair of elephants with improbable tusks at the edge of the lake.
The birds were as much the story as the mammals for me. A Kori Bustard walked within thirty feet of our vehicle and ignored us completely. Lesser Flamingos turned part of the lake pink. A pair of Gray Crowned Cranes displayed in the grass. Augur Buzzards on every other acacia.
The lion sighting came mid-morning — three lions, full bellies, sprawled under a small bush looking unbothered by a small fleet of safari vehicles. Nobody was doing anything foolish and the lions weren’t either.
By 1:00 PM the light was gone for wildlife and we drove up to the rim for lunch. I sat on a stone wall and watched black kites circle for half an hour before I even took my camera out of the bag.
