Exploring the Ngorongoro Crater and Truly Settling into Our Safari

On July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Africa, Tanzania2 Comments

Visiting the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania is an absolutely remarkable experience for many different reasons. Although it is called the Ngorongoro crater, it is really a giant caldera with steep mountains covered in lush rainforests on all sides. The actual floor of the crater covers roughly 100 square miles and is very flat, making it easy to see the entire expanse of grasslands from any point inside of the crater. We were there as the wildebeest were migrating from Ngorongoro up to the Serengeti National Park and eventually into Kenya and the Maasai Mara. We saw many unique animals during our all day game drive in the crater, but the highlight was certainly seeing six of the eight black rhinos that live in the conservation area, especially since they do their best to avoid humans.

Our day started bright and early as we had to go to a local clinic to take another COVID PCR test in order to be able to go back into Kenya in a couple of days. Fortunately our guides made arrangements with the clinic to get us in before their normal hours, which allowed us to get our tests done quickly and still make it to the crater at dawn. There were heavy clouds hanging in the tropical rainforests as we drove over the mountains and down to base of the crater. The drive very much reminded us of our time driving in Bolivia and going down the famous “Death Road” and we were all happy when we made our way to the flat grasslands, especially our guide Shabani.

Driving into the Crater

We Saw Many Types of Water Fowl. This one is the Egyptian Goose.

Seeing the herds of wildebeest with their ever present partners along the migration trail, the zebras, was truly fascinating. We would also get to see more lions relaxing in the tall grass and getting to see one of the black rhinos close to our Land Cruiser was also a special treat. This would be our first of many days learning what it really means to be on safari. Since the vehicles are restricted to the various roads that traverse the parks and conservation areas, it takes a little bit of luck, lots of patience, and keen eyesight to see many of the different animals. For us, seeing a Caracal, which is a medium size cat that is rare to see, as well as a white tailed mongoose were as amazing as seeing the hippos, rhinos, lions, and other large animals that live in the crater.

Family of Black Rhinos Off in the Distance

All of the guides have radios in their vehicles and when a unique animal sighting is found by one of the guides, they radio the other guides so that they can bring their guests to the location to see the animals as well. This cooperative attitude helps ensure that everyone has the best opportunity to see the various animals, especially when one of the big cats like the lions are spotted as well as rare sightings such as the black rhino. One of the rangers in the park actually used his vehicle along with another guide’s vehicle to move a lone black rhino towards the location on the road where several of us were located. At a certain point the rhino decided that it was tired of being herded and it just stopped before heading back to an isolated area, but not before we were able to get some wonderful views of these amazing animals.

The Contrast of the Mountains Compared to the Grasslands Below

By the time our day ended, the skies had cleared and we were able to get a true sense of the actual crater walls that surrounded us. Although there were still far fewer tourists on safari than under normal circumstances, we probably saw the most other people at the Ngorongoro Crater than anywhere else on safari. It probably has as much to do with the limited size of the crater as well as its popularity, but there were still many hours where it was just us and the hundreds of animals that were grazing in the grasslands. As our guide went into the ranger station to register that we were leaving the park, he made sure to close the roof as there were many baboons in the area. Unfortunately, he forgot to roll the passenger window all of the way up, and within a couple of minutes of him going into the station, a curious baboon jumped onto the hood of our Land Cruiser and was trying to climb in through the window. We had to use our guide’s duffle bag to block the baboon while frantically rolling the window up. The baboons will steal anything that they can get their paws on and we saw another baboon grab a shiny bag from another vehicle and climb into the trees above the parking area.

Viewing Point Above the Ngorongoro Crater

We finished our third full day on safari by going to the Bougainvillea Lodge where we had them light a fire in the fireplace in our room. It would turn out to be our last night in something other than a tent for several days. For the next several days, we would start by waking up around 5:00 am and getting into the back of our Land Cruiser by 6:00 am. Although it is possible to go out in the morning, returning to the camps for lunch, and then going back out in the afternoon, we spent our entire day on safari. We would become quite comfortable bouncing around in the back of the vehicle as we drove along the rugged roads of the different parks that we visited.

The Zebras Were Everywhere in East Africa

Entrance to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Getting a Sense of the Vastness of the Crater Floor

The Dense Foliage of Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania

On July 23, 2021July 23, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Africa, Tanzania, Uncategorized1 Comment

After enjoying a day and a half in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, we made our way to the border of Tanzania where we were to change guides and take a COVID Antigen test in order to gain entry into Tanzania. The cost of the test was just $25 US dollars per person and only took about 20 minutes, but the border customs process at the border was not particular easy to understand or follow. So, in all, it took us about an hour to get through the border checks and make our way into Tanzania where we met our guide, Shabani, for this part of the safari. We made our way to Lake Manyara National Park to spend several hours in the park before going to our lodging for the night.

Lake Manyara is the seventh largest lake in Tanzania and is known not just for the wildlife and famous tree-climbing lions, but also for the fish that is found in the lake. The scenery of Lake Manyara National Park couldn’t be more different than that of Amboseli and shows the diversity of different ecosystems that exist in East Africa. We entered the park late in the afternoon, so we only had a couple of hours and the it was getting dark before we exited to go to our lodge. We were immediately greeted by a large number of baboons as we started along the road that winds its way through the park, but we knew from our guide that seeing wildlife in the Lake Manyara National Park isn’t easy as they hide in the lush foliage of the forest that is the park. In fact, we passed another Land Cruiser exiting the park as we entered that had not seen any animals during their visit.

Colorful Red-and-Yellow Barbet Joined Us for Lunch

We were a little more fortunate as we saw giraffes, zebras, elephants, as well as a monitor lizard and a king fisher bird eating a crab. This, however, was the first time using our new manual telephoto lens and it would be the first lesson on using it in low light conditions. We would master the lens within the next couple of days, but it was definitely learning on the job, so to speak. We were quite content with seeing what we saw, including the amazing landscapes that included the enormous lake.

Our accommodations for the evening at the Pamoja Africa Lodge were quite different from the tent and camp that we’d spent our first two nights in, but we would be back to tents very soon. The landscaping of the property was quite nice and the owners believe in self-sustenance, so they grew their own herbs and vegetables for the meals right on the property. It made for quite a relaxing evening before our adventure would continue the following morning and our next day would once again be something completely different.

General Thoughts on Visiting Kenya and Tanzania

On July 21, 2021July 21, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Africa, Kenya, Tanzania6 Comments

Now that we are back home, we wanted to take a moment to give some general thoughts on our trip to Kenya and Tanzania before we start giving details about each of the specific locations that we visited. First of all, especially after over a year and half without travel, getting to go someplace was its own reward in many ways. This, however, was really a trip of a lifetime and if you’ve watched any shows about the wildlife of Africa, our trip was like all of them in many ways. We would, without a doubt, recommend to anyone who enjoys nature and wants to see animals in their natural habitat, going on a safari is something that you should definitely try to do at some point. It wasn’t just about the animals, though, it was about the people as well, especially our guides, Shabani, David, and Perminus who you will hear more about as we talk about the specific parks that we visited.

Fascinating Crowned Cranes of East Africa

One thing that is clear is that travel during the age of the pandemic is not as easy as it used to be. Despite flight cancellations, delays, and getting tested for COVID four times in seventeen days, the end result of the trip was well worth the struggles that had to be overcome. Going on a safari isn’t necessarily for everyone and we saw people during our trip that probably shouldn’t have been on one. It takes patience, isn’t always comfortable, and you spend many hours driving through the parks looking for some of the more elusive animals. We found all of that to be part of the overall experience and it shouldn’t deter you from enjoying such an adventure.

We said this many times during our trip, on our site and to ourselves, every day of our trip was literally a different experience. Part of that is due to the fact that the parks themselves are different from one another as well as we covered a vast amount of area during our tour that took us to different parts of each of the countries. Some were savannahs, some were lakes, and one was even the world’s largest caldera. The other thing that is hard to describe is the actual abundance of wildlife that we saw as we travelled to each of the various parks. Whether lions, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, elephants, or any other animal, it wasn’t if we saw a handful, but in some cases there were thousands of them. We even learned a little bit of Swahili and visited a Maasai village, which we weren’t sure was going to happen due to COVID.

One of the Many Colorful Birds that We Saw

There is no way to accurately describe what our trip was like in a single post, so we will be providing many details and specific experiences over the next several weeks. Now that we have had time to get some sleep, we return to “normal” life and this is one of those times where we really are still absorbing the trip as opposed to starting to plan our next adventure. The world certainly has not returned to normal yet and depending on where you might be some places are getter better and others are getting worse. We certainly hope that the world of travel gets better if not for the people like us that like to travel, but also for the people that run the lodges, camps, hotels, tour companies, etc. that are all hurting and we saw that first hand during our trip.