Animals of Ngorogoro Crater

Today we had an 8 hour game drive into the crater and had some pretty amazing animal encounters. We spotted a cheetah right off the bat, which is amazing because only four live in the crater. She wasn't doing much so we moved on. Tons of zebras and wildebeest super close up, including some very cute babies.

The stars of today were the lions though. First we saw some cubs, the two males sleeping - we came back hours and hours later and they still hadn't moved - and then we saw four lionesses getting ready to hunt! We waited and waited - over half an hour - as they slowly approached a warthog. Poor guy was downwind so couldn't smell them, and has bad eyes so couldn't see them - and they got super close to him, all four of them. Maybe 10 meters! And they were ready to pounce, all tensed up like springs....and our guide said they were waiting for him to turn his back....and he finally did...and they let him walk away! We have no idea what they were thinking, except that they must be bad hunters!

A bunch of cars had gathered by this time. There is very little shade on the crater floor, and it's very sunny, so sometimes the lions lie in the shade of the cars. One was lying right outside my window! I could have pet it (I did not) or she could have jumped in my window (she did not). Anyways it was amazing.

After that we had a very fantastic picnic lunch at the hippo pool, spotted a black rhino napping, and saw a herd of elephants on the way out of the crater (one was looking at me funny, I am not yet over my very rational fear of elephants).

When we got back to our rooms a hot bubble bath was magically waiting for us. They were both very much needed and enjoyed!

We are meeting soon for special drinks and then to be in a "parade" with the other guests somewhere for a special celebration. It is freezing here when the sun goes down (pants, fleece, jacket, a hat would be nice) so I hope they don't make us stay outside for too long! Tomorrow we are headed to the Serengeti where we are hoping to catch the Great Migration. Not expecting to have Internet there, so will give a full report (of course....you are dealing with two very thorough people here) in a few days!

Happy Father's Day!!