Ngorongoro Crater - The Elusive Cheetah, Two Rhinos, and One Lucky Zebra

Amber in tent on night four

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Safari Day Five
April 1, 2008, Ngorongoro Crater

(Amber)

After sleeping one last night in another precariously perched tent (hyenas and some hoofed animals were with us all night - and a local with a machine gun for a necklace was walking around to keep out buffalo) in a gorgeous location, we woke and watched the sunrise over the Ngorongoro Crater.

We ate and headed into the Crater for what....if I could rank them....was perhaps the most moving day of the safari. In four short hours, we saw the what had become standard by the dozens...elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebra, lions, baboons, amazing birds....

But we also saw.....a cheetah and two rhinos! Mission accomplished. To be fair, the cheetah was basically hidden in the grass, and the rhinos were really far away. But we still saw them.....so this was officially the best safari ever. Oh no...now I'm a ruined, glacier and a safari snob. I guess there are worse things that I could be.

Wildebeest

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And our victory doesn't end there. Before it was over, we had the opportunity to get within feet of a pride of lions that included two massive males, six females, and four cubs. And after they gave us the most memorable views from the safari yet, we watched as they stalked three zebras in the most amazing, synchronized, natural symphony I've ever seen. It moved me to tears and has again even as I'm writing this. It was the most magnificent thing I've ever seen. Hands down.

This safari could not have been better. I had no idea how vast it all was. I could never have dreamed how many animals there were, how close we would get, or how beautiful it would be. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

A list of our lion spottings during safari.....

• 3 sleeping female lions in Manyara (Friday evening) - about 50 feet away
• 2 males under a tree in Serengeti (Sunday afternoon) - about 30 feet away but laying down and harder to see
• 2 females and 4 cubs (Sunday morning) - pretty far away - probably 100 yards and best seen through binocs
• 3 females after kill (Sunday evening) - very very close - right by truck
• large male and female together (Monday) - close - probably 20 feet from truck
• 2 females and cub (Monday) very close to the truck on a small hill with a huge male in the distance sitting in the grass
• 2 males, 6 females, and 4 cubs in ridiculously close range in Ngorongoro Crater....we even got to see an entire zebra hunt unfold

Male lion

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(Matt)

This safari, which was 1/3 of the length of my last, was the better of the two. Nathan, Richard and I have all been on other safaris, and we all agreed this was the best we had all been on. The lion hunt Amber discusses above was spectacular. We watched it develop for about 20 minutes with a pride of lions we felt we knew after watching them up close for about an hour before the hunt. Somehow the signal was given the  lead lioness, and all the lions immediately fell into place and set up an incredible attack. Even the males were on it, though the females did the lion's share of the work (sorry, couldn't resist). The zebras got away, but it didn't matter. It was incredible, as was the safari as a whole.

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