My Fellow Travelers Weigh In

As I do when a trip includes more people than Carol and I, I like to ask my fellow travelers questions about their opinions of the trip, just to get other perspectives.  Meena hasn't had time to reply, but I can still add her thoughts.  Below are the questions with responses from Sanjiv, Carol, and I.

Top five animals

Carol: 1.lion - so beautiful, 2. cheetah - love the way it walks, 3. warthogs - fun to watch, especially the babies, 4.Giraffe - cool to watch, 5. Marabou stork - so unusual looking and the way it interacted with humans

Sanjiv: I am impartial to the big cats. Therefore, my top pics are number one the leopard number two the cheetah number three the male lion number four the rhinos, the black and white, and number five is a tie between the elephants and the giraffe. The reason the big cats are my favorite especially the leopard are they very elusive and difficult to spot. It has always been a hunt to find them when we do they do not disappoint. The rhinos, both the black and white are both extremely fascinating especially since wedid not see them in the first safari I did South Africa so they were special. Both the giraffe and the elephant are among the elegant animals as well, and both have their special traits. The intelligence of an elephant not only for its memory, but for his cunning methods of trying to get to the tree beyond the fences is impressive. 

Glen: Male lions, as we had seen lionesses in South Africa/2014.  Cheetahs (such an amazing walk).  The leopard (such an elusive animal), warthogs (so fun to watch), and then giraffes (so dignified).

Top 3 animal encounters

Sanjiv: For me again the top three animals will be number one the leopard number two the cheetah number three the male lion.

Carol: 1. Giraffe at Lewa - ate out of my hand.  2. Lion - that just popped up next to the land rover.  3. Marabou stork - the way it walked around the picnic area.

Glen: Giraffes at Lewa, especially Tito for eating out of our hands.  Very cool moments.  Then Momma warthog and her three babies.  Watching them run around, crashing into each other and having huge fun was a real treat.  The serval, as we struggled to keep an eye on it given how well camouflaged it was in the tall grasses.

Lodges Ranked

Carol: Lewa - loved the cottage and how close we could get to the animals.  Bateleur - nice cottage, great food. Neptune - nice cottage, close to the crater

Sanjiv: The lodges that I enjoyed in order is number one is the Sirikoi lodge at Lewa Conservancy 2) Bateleur Camp and last Neptune Ngorongoro. The reason for this order would be that Sirikoi had a fantastic backdrop from our bedroom which included fireplace not only in the bedrooms but also in the common area. Shear number of animals that would come in the area was impressive. Including the monkeys, the impalas, the zebras, the giraffe, and of course, at night time various other animals that can be heard, but not seen. In addition we had a bonus of having our own home giraffe, Tito that we got to feed with the help of Francis.

Glen: To me, the cottage at Sirikoi Lodge was fantastic.  The porch with views of so many animals, feeding Tito the giraffe, three fireplaces and a firepit, the beautiful dining area, and spending time talking with other guests and Matt the very personable manager.

Favorite areas

Sanjiv: The favorite area for me was Masai Mara followed by Lewa and then the crater. Masai Mara was my top pick because of the vast number of animals and the variety that were seen.

Carol: Lewa - saw everything, not a lot of hippos, Masai Mara - lots of everything, Crater - cool topography.

Glen: Oh, this is a tough one.  I loved the mountains, hills, watering holes, and deep valleys of Lewa the best.  The Mara River with the hippos and crocodiles was stunning on both of our visits to it.  Surrounded by the caldera and all the wildlife, especially at Lake Magadi, the crater deserves a mention too.

Favorite two activities

Carol: guided walk - to get out of the land rover and walk around was wonderful.  Hot air balloon ride - seeing the Masai Mara from above was very cool, to see the animals running around

Dr. Sanjiv: Top activities that were not game drives the hot air balloon and the walk in Lewa Conservancy. It was very informative especially that the hyena’s feces is white due to ingesting bones. That’s the orthopedics in me.

Glen: agree with both Carol and Sanjiv.

Guides, ranked

Sanjiv: The guides in order will be James followed by Robert and last was Hassan

Carol: Robert - has the most enthusiasm, James - very knowledgeable, Hassan - nice but basic

Glen: I hate to be a wimp, but I would say it's a tie at the top between James and Robert.  James for findings our first male lions in a spot difficult to see, and Robert for his good humor and outgoing personality.  

 Best food

Carol:  Bateleur, but really enjoyed Kenya night at Sirikoi

Sanjiv: For me, I enjoyed the Bateleur Lodge food because of the vegetarian option. Also, the flavor was more of the Indian style which I enjoy. The least favorite of the food was at Sirikoi but the backdrop certainly made up for that.

Glen: I would put Neptune first, with Bateleur a close second.  Sirikoi was a bit weaker, although Kenya night was the most fun dinner.

Last comments?

Carol: Go to Sirikoi - the conservancy had everything but crocs and a few hippos. So many rhinos, elephants, zebras,

Glen: Read the blog; I had plenty of comments!

Some Final Pictures

Elephant skull selfie at rest area.

Black face monkey.

Final view of the N'gorongoro Crater.

There's a reason it's a UNESCO 

World Heritage site.  And always

remember in your travels that

UNESCO means "You must go!"

Lunch With A Pretty View. And An Ugly View Too.

We headed to a picnic spot.  It's where a lot of  safari vehicles end up for lunch.  It is a beautiful and unusual scene.

It's hard to know where to start, so I'll start with the bathrooms.  A separate building out of sight of both the main dirt road, the bathrooms are huge and clean.  I've never seen such a large bathroom before.  Added bonus -- they are spic and span clean.  (Most of the bathrooms we used were VERY clean, although those that weren't clean were pretty grim.

The next mention goes to the ice cream and bar truck and trailer.  Painted in zebra stripes, it is the only commercial part of the crater that we saw.  It struck me as both incongruous and welcome.  In terms of things I saw in the N'gorongoro Crater that I expected to see, I must admit it was at the bottom of the list. We did walk over after lunch and bought/enjoyed tasty ice cream bars.   I'm just disappointed in hindsight that I did not take a picture of the truck and trailer.

I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight the view.  We parked overlooking a small lake that featured a hippo and multiple birds.  The caldera rose up behind the lake, and to the side of the lake there was a lone tree in all its majesty.  

The highlight of the stop was the Marabou Storks.  There were three of them, and they are part of the Ugly Five.  They are a bit unnerving, and they stand in an intimidating, threatening pose, and slightly hunched, look like a cross between Vincent Price and Alfred Hitchcock.  It's no accident that these two famed masters of suspense and horror came to mind.

At one point, one of the Marabou storks walks up close to another group eating their lunch.  I think I would have run, but they calmly shooed the stork away.

My safari book has four paragraphs on the Marabou that includes nuggets such as these:

"With a face that only a mother could love the marabou is considered the ugliest bird in the world."  (Writer: I'm not going to argue with that point.)

"A large wading bird with black cloak-like wings over a white chest and underparts, and long skinny white legs (almost like you imagine an undertaker.)"

"It is known to be quite ill-tempered." (Glad I didn't know that at the picnic spot.)

"It is considered to have the largest wing-spread of any living bird."

Hassan set up chairs and a small table for us to enjoy a tasty box lunch from the lodge.  After that, as mentioned above, we wandered over and enjoyed some ice cream.  It's probably the most unique picnic spot Carol and I have ever eaten at.

Meena and Sanjiv.

Lake and caldera selfie.

And the group.

Hippo and caldera.

African Crowned Cranes, also

known as Greater Cranes.

There's a reason wildebeests

are one of the Ugly Five.

The Alfred Hitchcock of birds.

Marabou stork stalking another group.

Enjoying our ice cream dessert!

The Final Count

At minimum, we saw 81 different species of animals and birds.  We probably saw more (there were a number of birds that went unidentified, especially in Lewa).  We got better about asking our guides the names of the different birds we saw in Masai Mara and the Crater.

Rafts of Hippos, Impressive Birds

After driving along the lake, we turned back into the heart of the crater.  Here, the stars were also water, as several ponds dot the area, attracting more wildlife, particularly beautiful birds.

There was also a point where we saw about 20 safari vehicles pulled over on the side of a far away dirt road.  They were looking at a rhino.  In what was a funny moment, the four of us told Hassan we did not need to join that scrum, as we saw many, many rhinos in Lewa Conservancy.

Yellow-billed storks, with a massive

saddle-billed stork behind them.

The beaks on these storks are beautiful,

even if the storks themselves are a 

bit unsightly!

A raft of hippos in a large pond.

Hippos and caldera.

Our safari vehicle was green, but had the

same pop-up roof as this one.  Made

for a great photography platform.

Sacred ibis.

Coming in for a landing.  (I'm just

surprised I got a decent picture of a

bird flying!)

Pelicans.

Four birds in flight!

N'gorongoro Crater Animal Sightings

Carol kept track of 29 different animals (many of which were birds) in the crater.  While not as high as Lewa or Masai Mara, the crater animal count is based on just one day on safari.  Not too shabby.  

I need to synthesize the three lists to figure out how many different species we ended up seeing across the various game drives.  I will post that in the next day or so.

Zebra

Ogre Buzzard

Lions

Baboon

Cape buffalo

Wildebeest

Impala

Kori bustard

Grant gazelle

Greater flamingos

Ostrich

Warthog

Hippo

Sand piper

Egyptian goose

Blacksmith plover

Grey heron

African spoonbill

Sacred ibis

Hyena

Black headed heron

Yellow billed stork

Saddle billed stork

Pelicans

Egret

Great crane

Maribou stork

Black faced monkey

The Star Of N'gorongoro Crater

Upon reflection, it makes sense that the star of the crater is Lake Magadi.  Not surprisingly, the banks of the lake are chock full of animals.  

Flamingos are ever present.  Hassan, our guide for the day, told us they were greater flamingos.  A website says they are lesser flamingos, while another website had another name for them.

Regardless, there were many, many groupings of flamingos, also called a "flamboyance of flamingos."  Whoever came up with these different group names was awesome!

The name of the lake is the Masai word for "salty," as it is a shallow soda lake.  The dirt road runs alongside one side of the lake, and affords amazing viewing.  I'll let the pictures tell the story:

A confusion of wildebeests with a

flamboyance of flamingos behind them.

Back left: Cape Buffalo

Middle: Multiple Wildebeests

Back right: An impala.

Warthog in the foreground.

Don't miss the flamingos in back.

A solitary hippo with many flamingos.

Blacksmith plover.

Grey heron.

African spoonbill.

A better look at the spoon of the bill.

This hippo doesn't really need to work

on his blocking technique.  He's big

enough to trample an entire NFL

defensive line.

Definitely in the pink.

A classic blue heron pick.

Reaching The Base Of The Crater

Reaching the base of N'gorongoro Crater, the area was teeming with wildlife.  Everywhere you looked, there were multitudes of animals.  We drove along, admiring the implausibilities of wildebeests, a gang of cape buffalo, and dazzles of zebra, among others. 

The crater is a special place.  There are an estimated 30,000 animals in the 102 square miles of the crater (no, I don't know who counted, or if they ever lost count, having to start over again.)

Due to its enclosed caldera, it has essentially formed its own ecosystem.  The word "N'gorongoro" is a word that describes the sound the bell on the lead cow in a herd makes, "ngor, ngor," which comes from the herds of cows that graze on the outer wall of the caldera. 

The crater is unique because it is the largest caldera in the world with unbroken walls, and yet has not filled up with water.  It is one of Africa's Seven Natural Wonders, including the wildebeest migration, the Nile River, the Sahara Desert, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Red Sea, and the Okavango Delta.

Foreground: Cape Buffalo

Middle ground: Wildebeests.

Backgound: Crater caldera.

These baboons show a lot of pluck.

A solitary cape buffalo.

Kori bustards (yes, for the last

time, the spelling is correct!)

Cape buffalo close-up!

The initial variety of life on the base of the crater was just a warm-up for the star of the show -- Lake Magadi.