Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

A Wildlife Extravaganza in the Largest Caldera in the World

February, 2014

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As we got ready to leave, a couple of Blue-Naped Mousebirds showed up at our Yaeda Valley camp. The male sure had a long tail, and the blue on the back of his neck looked really out of place. Almost like a target for a hawk!


Blue Naped Mousebird Photos by Dona

We wound our way off our rocky outcrop, then down into the bottom of the Yaeda Valley. We crossed it to the west, then bumped along the foot of the Kidero Mountains. As we worked our way north, we stopped to talk to the locals walking from all points of the compass to a big party. We gave some a ride, and in between kept our cameras busy. We asked one of the women we picked up where she was going and she said she was "Just walking around."


Yellow Necked Sand Grouse	Xxx Photo by Dona	Dark Chanting Goshawk Photo by Dona	Great Spotted Cuckoo

Black Backed Jackal
Photo by Dona


Pygmy Falcon Photo by Dona	Southern Red Bishop Photos by Dona

Tree
Photo by Dona


Flower Xxx Pink White Photo by Dona	Flower Xxx Yellow Photo by Dona


Lesser Kestrel Photo by Dona	Black Headed Heron Photo by Dona


Fishers Lovebirds


European Bee Eaters Photo by Dona	Rufous Crowned Roller	Rufous Crowned Roller	Great Spotted Cuckoo

We stopped in a dry river bottom with some large baobab trees for lunch. Dona and I climbed up on one which was split and half fallen down. On the way down I dropped a piece of trash from our lunch down into the huge cavity in the crotch of the tree where it had split. I crawled down inside and retrieved it, and life was good. Douglas was talking with a local man who had walked up as we were eating. When it was time to leave he informed us the man said this area was full of black mamba snakes.

We didn't see any.
I think that was good, in this case.
It's one of the most poisonous snake in the world.
If not the most poisonous one.
It's the second largest snake in the world, after the King Cobra.
It strikes multiple times.
Its bites are usually fatal in 20 minutes.
Antivenin is in short supply,
and we weren't carrying any that I know of.
It's shy.
That's good.
It tends to run away.
That's good.
But it doesn't like being cornered.
That's a problem.
There weren't any down in the tree cavity.
That's really good.
I did look around before I went down in there.
But I probably would have looked a bit harder if I had known about all that.

Dona Baobab Lunch


Man with Donkeys but no Cows! Yes, we are on the road...


Road

Eventually we connected to a proper unimproved road and followed that up to the main tourist route to the Ngorongoro Crater. We began to see small farms, and then large communities and rural areas where the entire landscape was farms.

Crater Area Farmland

We came to an area where we saw a lot of birds hawking insects in the air. At first we thought it was just swallows, but then we realized there were raptors doing it also. We stopped in a hurry and grabbed our cameras. Sometimes what was going on didn't look quite right for the raptors, and we finally realized the Lanner Falcons were grabbing insects with their feet instead of their beaks, and eating them in the air.


Lanner Falcon	Dark Chanting Goshawk

We were steadily climbing, and eventually the farms petered out and then we were staring down into the crater itself. The Ngorongoro crater is the largest crater in the world. Unfortunately it was very hazy, and we couldn't see well. But we did get the general idea about it being big.

Crater

We were going to visit the crater the next day, so we continued on, driving through highlands occupied by many Maasai villages.

Maasai Highlands


Jacksons Widowbird	Malachite Sunbird


White Stork


Maasai Land

Gathering Firewood

We arrived towards evening at Mysigio Seasonal Camp, our home for the next two nights.


Gary at our Mysigio Camp Photo by Dona	Mysigio Photo by Dona

Mysigio Sunset

Flower Xxx Magenta

We got up early the next morning and more or less helped the ranger open the gate to descend into the crater. Wow! This is an amazing place. I wonder what it was like years ago, before encroachment all around reduced the total number of animals in the greater ecosystem.


Lionesses Photo by Dona	Lioness


Grants Gazelle Photo by Dona	Grants Gazelle


Golden Jackals	Golden Jackals


Wildebeest and Calf Photo by Dona	Wildebeast


Common Eland	Warthog Photo by Dona

We spotted three big male lions deliberately marching across the crater, clearly lords of this realm. They may not be as effective as their female counterparts, but they surely stop you in your tracks.


Lion

Lions

Lions
Photo by Dona

In some places there were mixed herds of Wildebeests with new calves and Zebras spread out on the crater bottom. But in others it was relatively empty of wildlife, at least to our eyes.


Herd Photo by Dona	Zebras Photo by Dona

Egyptian Goose


Spotted Hyena


Hippos	Hartebeest


Lappet Faced Vulture	Red Billed Firefinch	Xxx Hawk

Xxx
Douglas, where are you when we need you?
Photo by Dona

Wow! There it was, just walking down the road. One of the more elusive cats -- a Serval Cat. This guy was not fat, but didn't seem to be too intense. It came almost up to the Land Rover and then lay down in the grass. But it did perk up whenever something moved nearby, and slouched off to check out a butterfly.


Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona

Serval Cat
Photo by Dona

There was a hyena carcass lying in the grass near a herd of cape buffalo, but there were no scavengers around. Apparently hyena does not come highly recommended, even to hyenas and other scavengers. As things dry out and times get tough, that changes. This was the season of plenty, the season after the short rains, the season when there are wildebeests calves by the thousands.

Cape Buffalo and Hyena Carcass


Cape Buffalo	Cape Buffalo

Holy crow! We came upon a whole flock of Crowned Cranes.

Crowned Cranes
Photo by Dona


Crowned Crane Photo by Dona	Crowned Crane

Crowned Crane
Photo by Dona


Yellow Billed Stork with Sacred Ibis	Sacred Ibis

Hyenas and Vultures devouring a Zebra Carcass

Hyenas and Vultures
Photo by Dona

Rhino
Photo by Dona


Xxx Barn Swallow Photo by Dona	Common Greenshank Photo by Dona

We came across a Kori Bustart displaying. It stood out like the Sage Grouse do in our part of the world. We didn't see any females around, but maybe they were watching from some hidden nook. We were impressed, anyway.


Kori Bustard Displaying


Photo by Dona
Kori Bustard


Fan Tailed Widowbird Photo by Dona	Black Shouldered Kite Photo by Dona

Flower Xxx Pink Yellow
Photo by Dona

Golden Jackal

I would have liked to stay in the bottom of the crater until sunset, but the rules required we be out at an earlier hour. When we got back to camp there was a giraffe waiting for us.

Giraffe

We had dinner and then hit the sack, resting up for our trip in the morning to Oldupai Gorge and then on to the Ndutu area in Serengeti National Park.