I am delighted to say that the Ngorongoro Crater is teeming – with animals not vehicles! What a privilege to be here now – my guide keeps telling me! How pleased he is to see an English tourist once again. This guide, Barack (just like the former US president) is full of life, enthusiasm and a genuine passion for sharing his home countries wealth of experiences with his guests. This first experience will be a full day safari in the Ngorongoro Crater.
We started out from the Neptune Ngorongoro Luxury Lodge at 8am. Not even 10 minutes later and we were at the gate to the park. Talk about the ideal location! From here you start the drive to the bottom of the crater. First you start to wind your way around the rim of the crater, heading towards the descent road. The crater view is truly magnificent and the opportunity to stop at a viewing point to capture this must not be missed. It is possible to start your selfies here as well! We even had the viewing point to ourselves!
A few minutes later and we reach the descent /ascent road which has now been paved and the parks board are in the process of paving a second road. In time you will have an ‘Up’ and a ‘Down.’
Even this journey is a stunning display of nature. You are driving through a tropical rain forest as you descend. We had barely reached the bottom when out of the trees appeared a very relaxed herd of elephant. One stopped just ahead of us and proceed to scratch his rather impressive bottom up and down the tree before sashaying off.
Once we reached the crater floor the true majesty of this caldera really hits home. The plains open up and suddenly you really don’t know where to look. We have wildebeest grazing alongside herds of zebra, Thomson and Grants gazelle, families of warthog wallowing in the muddy pools and large herds of elephant gracefully leading their young to water. We even saw hartebeest in the distance! There aren’t many roads running through the crater but the main one will slowly takes you around the shimmering lake which, in the distance, we can see is awash with flamingos, pelicans and other birds.
We slowly make our way round the lake heading for our picnic spot. On arrival we are greeted by vervet monkeys who clearly believe it is lunchtime for them also! That is not the case. The picnic spot also has some very well maintained toilet facilities – always something to note!
Barack now sets about laying up a truly gourmet picnic lunch resplendent with chairs, table and a canopy for shade. At this point I would like to note (rather smugly) that we were the only vehicle in the picnic area with chairs, table and a canopy! It made us feel like we were the only ones there and it finally hits us how incredibly lucky we are. The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most magnificent wildlife spots in the world and here we were with just a handful of other tourists enjoying it. We clinked glasses determined to savour every moment.
https://www.neptunehotels.com/en/hotels/neptune-ngorongoro-luxury-lodge