Lake Manyara Lodge & Ngorongora Crater - Monday, 28 September

This was certainly another Wow day!!
After delicious breakfast a the Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge, we got aboard the Land Cruisers and headed for the Ngorongoro Crater. We traveled through several small communities and one or two larger ones. There were people on little motor bikes, bicycles, minibuses and mostly on foot traveling along the highway. Maasai were leading their flocks and kids were gathered at schools.
Many of the Maasai have come down from northern Tanzania where the drought is even worse than here and so are looking for grazing land.
We also saw workers digging volcanic rock to mend the roads.
As we approached the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we saw new apartment buildings under construction - most unusual structures for this area. The Conservation Area has been recently expanded and people will be moved off conservation land and into these new homes.
The road into Ngorongoro is amazingly bad. It has deep ruts and potholes, bumps and rocks. It is steep and clings to the sides of the mountain. It took nearly 3 hours to get to the floor of the crater and when we stopped for lunch one of the vehicles had a flat tire ( 2nd so far on trip, obviously the roads are bad bad ).
Along the way we had amazing views over both the crater and the Rift Valley. In some limited areas there are green forest and vegetation, but the crater itself is very dry.
We were unable to see flamingos or rhinos, both usually common, because of the dry conditions. We did see lots of wildebeests, gazelles and ostriches, as well as vervet monkeys ( who worked hard trying to steal our lunches ) and 2 kinds of baboons.
We watched a black kite soaring overhead and saw many buzzards.
After lunch, we were fortunate to find and a cheetah (rare). It was at quite a distance, well-camouflaged under a tree, but the guides picked it out and managed to get us to see it and photograph it with the new camera.
Soon after, we saw a lion and three lionesses, also at a bit of a distance.
I'm very glad for my new camera for these shots( none other would do it!).
The last big spotting was a Corey Bustard, heaviest of the flying birds.
Then another very rough ride out and back to the lodge. We all rushed to the swimming pool to cool off, and enjoyed floating and looking out over the Rift Valley from the "infinity edge" pool for a while before dinner.
I missed the entertainment when I went for a shower, but I could hear the singing and it sounded good. We all enjoyed dinner together, and turned in fairly early.
It will be an early morning and long day tomorrow.

Photos 28 Sep