Thursday, July 4, 2024
Left at 7:30 for a day trip to Ngorongoro Crater National Park.
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| Workers sweeping leaves at the park entrance |
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| Looking back through the entrance gate |
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| Up on a ridge, only fog/clouds below us |
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| Young Syncerus caffer/Cape Buffalos cross the road |
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| Equus quagga/Plains Zebras |
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The land outside the park is the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area where the indigenous Maasai people
were relocated from lands taken for Serengeti National Park;
here they can both herd cattle and grow crops
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| A Maasai village |
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Taking the descent road, our first look into
Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest intact caldera
at 10-12 miles/16-19 km in diameter, with walls
400-610 m/1,312-2,000' high, created by the
collapse of a large volcano 2.5 million years ago |
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| Papio anubis/Olive Baboons |
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| Seneto rest area and picnic site |
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Phoenicopterus roseus/Greater Flamingos (pale pink) and
Phoeniconaias minor/Lesser Flamingos (darker pink) |
Flamingos have no need to migrate from the crater with its food resources and relative safety.
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| A flamboyance of flamingos in Lake Magadi |
Video of flamingos
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| Vanellus armatus/Blacksmith Lapwing |
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| Balearica regulorum/Grey Crowned Crane |
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| Pelecanus onocrotalus/Great White Pelican |
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| Edge of the saline soda lake, Lake Magadi |
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| Crocuta crocuta/Spotted Hyena |
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| View from a high point in the caldera; with binoculars we could barely see a black rhinoceros (KSS) |
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| Traffic jam at the intersection |
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A lone female Panthera leo/Lion stalks through a line
of safari vehicles, but then gave up following warthogs |
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The problem with national parks: there is no limit on
the number of vehicles to observe an animal |
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Was she using the line of vehicles to hide herself from
the wildebeests, or we just happened to be upwind? (KSS) |
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| Connochaetes taurinus/Blue Wildebeest |
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| Phacochoerus africanus/Warthogs at a mudhole |
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| Eudorcas thomsonii/Thomson's Gazelles |
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Bubulcus ibis/Cattle Egrets on the back of a zebra
await the insects that are stirred up as zebras graze |
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This zebra has a row of Buphagus africanus/
Yellow-billed oxpeckers on her back; the birds
eat ticks and parasites off the skin of zebras |
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Ardeotis kori/Kori Bustard, the heaviest flying bird
in the world, weighing up to 10 kg/40lbs |
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| Loxodonta africana/African Bush Elephant in a marsh |
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| Histurgops ruficauda/Rufous-tailed Weaver |
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| Lamprotornis superbus/Superb Starling |
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| The rim of the caldera is draped with clouds |
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| Connochaetes taurinus/Blue Wildebeest |
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| Threskiornis aethiopicus/African Sacred Ibis |
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| Ardea cinerea/Grey Heron |
We would also see Egyptian geese, guineafowl, coqui francolins, a black crake, red-knobbed coot, wattled crane, black-headed heron, African wattled lapwings, lesser black-backed gull, African hawk eagle, African fish eagle, and wattled starling.
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| Elephant spraying himself with water |
Video of elephant spraying mud
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| Olive baboons |
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| Something must be in that Ficus thonningii/Banyan Tree |
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| Tree-climbing Panthera leo/Lion! |
We would also see three black rhinos, Grant's gazelles, and hippos. There are no giraffes in the caldera.
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On the ascent road, a view back into the caldera
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| The next day was less cloudy for a photo at the Crater Viewpoint |
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Kent & Tamiko at
Ngorongoro Crater Viewpoint |
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| Children on their way home from school |
Next: Oldupai Gorge.
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