The Lost World

As we left the plains of the Seregeti behind us we started to head up the edge of the crater again.  Since we were not planning on going into the crater until the next morning and everyone was running on game drive overload, we took a detour through the Olduvai Gorge.  This is an interesting gorge that once flowed out of the Serengeti Plain, but now flows into to it when there is water, as Ngorongoro Crater has pushed up the other end.  But this is not what makes the area interesting, in this area some of the oldest human remains in the world have been found, along with foot prints from like 300,000 years ago.  Apparently the wet soil with the volcanic ash formed a form of concrete that has preserved everything very well.  There was a small museum that showed some of the artifacts found at the site and a replica of the footprints, which have since been reburied to protect them damage due to the harsh weather.  The canyon is interesting too look at but you can not really see anything that relates to the age of the gorge.

After our history lesson, we drove up to our campsite which was right on the rim of the crater with a great view.  We set up camp, rigged a lock for the tent to keep the "honest" thieves out, and cleaned up after another long dusty day.  As the sun set, we were afforded a view of a rainbow cutting through the sunset over the crater.  But the real show came while we were eating dinner.  A large bull elephant that was thirsty and did not feel like dealing with the crowd at the river came up to the camp sight and pulled the lid off the water tank then helped himself.  It was quite a sight seeing a full grown elephant working his way through camp.  After quenching his thirst he started to head towards the tents, but was repealed by shinning him with flashlights.  One of the security guards herd the commotion and came over with his assault rifle in case the flashlights did not work.  Fortunately the Elephant got bored and wandered back to the woods.  Apparently he was not the only animal in camp, while we were sleeping a herd of Buffalo wandered through eating the grass around the tents.

Bright and early the next morning we were up and heading into the crater.  Unfortunately there was road work on the entrance near our camp, so we spent an hour driving around the rim to get to the other road in.  Once we entered Ngorongoro crater everyone in the car was blown away by the number and diversity of the animals.  There were herds of Wildebeest and Zebras grazing along the road down the crater.  This area was also heavily populated by antelope, including the rare Elan which hides in the alpine meadows.  As we drove further, we saw Buffaloes joining the Wildebeest and Zebras.  Everywhere you looked there were animals everywhere.  And not just a few, herds of hundreds maybe even thousands.  The entire place was loaded with animals.  And for the most part we got to get very close to all of them.  However, the Rhino and the Elephant were very shy and tended to stay in the middle of the large open spaces well away from the roads.  So we could see their outlines, but not very close views of them.

We did not see a wide variety of the predators, but we did see two packs of spotted hyena.  One was a group of nine that looked like they had just finished eating their dinner.  The other group was a little larger about a dozen but they were out walking across the plain stalking their next meal.

We also saw six lionesses hiding in a ravine.  They were well hidden in the grass and seemed to be using the ravine to stay hidden, but they would come up to see if there was anything interesting.  Take a good look around before heading back down to hide some more.  We also saw a male and female lion from a long distance.  They seemed to be getting ready to mate and were annoyed by the scientist who were out trying to monitor the activity.  The highlight, however, was the couple of lions taking a nap right on the edge of the road.  Here the male and female were laying together in a very easy to see location.  A couple of times the male would stick his head up and give a mighty yawn (sorry no big roar).

As we wound up our last game drive and started to head through the one forested area in the crater, we saw a herd of destructive forest Elephants.  They were bulldozing trees and stripping the leaves from the top.  It was an interesting sight to watch them as the cleared their path through the trees.  All that was left was our three hour drive back to Arusha, which was uneventful.

When we got back to Arusha, Benjamen was waiting to interview all of us to see how our trip was.  He came to talk to us, but was too distracted by his cell phone, after starting to talk to him four times I was pretty much done trying because he did not seem interested and definitely did not want to hear my complaints about the trip.  He also tried to tell me that I had chosen to stay outside the Serengeti park and if I had a complaint I should have told him before we left.  At this I just asked to be brought to the bus station so that I could buy tickets out of Tanzania because I was done dealing with people like this.

Peter and Moses brought us to the station then helped us to buy tickets.  They would not let us take a cap to our hotel and insisted on bringing us there.  Once we got dropped off we went out and used the internet since it had been almost a week and it would close shortly.  Then I ran out to get some pizza we could eat in the room, because we had an early bus the next morning.

Around 9 the phone rang and it was Benjamin.  I initially said I do not have anything further do discuss with him, but he said he was in the lobby and he only wanted five minutes of my time.  Michelle was still angry and had no interest in going to see him.  When he saw me he immediately apologized for his behavior because he had apparently not gotten the full story from his people.  He interviewed the rest of the people on the trip and they all said they had a great time and there is nothing they would change.  Then he asked if they thought they should have been staying inside the Serengeti and everyone said yes.  Then he asked them if they felt safe, and everyone said they worried about the safety of their stuff after what happened to us.  So apparently nothing that they would change is not that accurate.

He then offered to drive us to Mombasa (our next destination) for free.  I told him we have bus tickets (see how that worked out in the next blog), but thanks for the offer.  He then asked about how much the jewelry was worth that we lost.  Michelle had never told me what exactly she had, so I told him it was $150 worth.  He opened his wallet and gave me $150 in cash with an apology to say that it could never replace what was stolen, but would hopefully help to start.  A really generous jester that I was not expecting.   When I told Michelle the story she was a little disappointed that she did not come down.

The next morning we woke up early and left Tanzania in the dust (literally)

Bill