Our Christmas Eve game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater

 We woke up at 5:30 this morning so that we could get an early start on our game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater.  Hot bottles of tea and coffee were brought to our room, along with some small cookies to tide us over until our breakfast down in the crater. 

It was not yet sunrise at 6 AM when headed out in our safari vehicle toward the floor of the crater, driven by Paul.

The crater is the caldera left behind by the eruption of a giant volcano two million years ago, It5 is roughly a circle, roughly 100 miles square miles, with the floor being roughly 500 meters below the rim.  The walls are fairly steep, so much so, Paul told us, that giraffe cannot easily navigate them to enter the crater.  That, in addition to the relative paucity of acacia trees on the floor, is why giraffe are the one major African mammal that we would not see down in the crater. Rhino, however, ARE found in the crater and they rhino may walk up the crater walls to find euphorbia tree, against which they can rub despite the poisonous character of the sap


The floor of the crater is accessed by only six roads, each of them one-way up or one-way down.  Although Entamamu is a long bumpy road from the rim road, its entrance to the rim road is very close to the Seneto Descent Road on the western wall off the crater.  We could see a reflection of the sun breaking out on the horizon, albeit hidden from us by the clouds. as we drove down the descent road.       

We could see a large cluster of buffalo on the crater bottom

as well as this small group of gazelle as we reached the crater floor

but our guide noted a group of 30 to 40 hyenas running

So we set off to see what might have caused that. 

First day at Entamanu Camp on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater

View at the rim of Ngorongoro Crater from Entamamu Camp

Nancy and I said goodbye to the rest of the family as we headed to the airport for our morning flight to Lake Manyara.  We were back in the world of the bush plane; several small plans lined up and took off from Arusha’s airport to various tiny airports, while the mountain loomed overhead in the distance. 

Planes at Arusha Airport

Our plane was big enough for perhaps fifteen passengers, but the only passenger besides us on our plane was a guide who was returning to his camp in the Serengeti — the next stop after ours – after a week at home in his company’s main office.  When he heard where we were going, he told us we would be in good hands

We could see the vastness of Lake Manyara as we approached it from the air

Lake Manyara from the air

We were picked up the Lake Manyara airport; we had another two hours of driving before we would reach our lodge.  The main crops in the area, our driver told us, were corn, soy and sunflowers; 75 %  of it was corn.  But not fishing, despite the proximity of Lake Manyara.  This side of Lake Manyara was within the conservation area, so fishing was only allowed on other side of the like. 

We passed through Karatu town, the last town before the crater and its conservation area, and then we were at the entrance to the park,





where our driver had to show his paperwork and wait for the stamp that would allow him to take us into the park and then to our lodge.  He warned us that it might take us awhile; he suggested that we wait inside a small museum, and he urged us to accompany him to the museum because the baboons in the parking lot were not shy about grabbing things from unwary tourists.  The museum had a nice model of the crater, and a larger model situating the crater within its surrounding areas

We had lots of time to read the placards more than once; apparently the computers were down and it took over a half hour for our driver to get the needed stamp.

A few days at Ngare Sero

The next leg of our trip, to the resort at Ngare Sero, marked the most disappointing part of our trip.  The place was not without its attractions.  The lodge is a former plantation founded by an officer in the German Army, which that conquered the area in the mid 1880's.  The main building of the lodge is the former mansion; it contains a few sleeping rooms as well as dining areas and sitting rooms for guests.

As we entered the lodge's grounds, we crossed this nice footbridge and passed a lake

 From the porch of the second floor or the main building. Mt. Kilimanjaro can be seen poking above the trees



Behind the main building is a large lawn, with a tower in the middle

The extensive grounds are lovely, including a large pool long enough for lap-swimming, a series of nature paths (although we found the supplied map of the grounds confusing), a large lake on which the grandchildren were able to enjoy a boat-ride.    The grounds are maintained as a conservancy, so monkeys can be seen flitting in the trees near where we ate; there were bird and exotic plants galore, including this interesting spiked vine. 

But there isn’t much to do when the weather is bad, and although their web site touts tours that the lodge can arrange, some of which were among our reasons for visiting, it turns out those need to be arranged in advance because they have only a limited number of cars and guides — and we ended up missing out.

We arrived in the mid-afternoon, and our bags went off to our rooms, two rooms at the end of line of adjoining rooms in back of main lodge and across the lawn.  We were given the wi-fi password that we could use for Internet connection from our rooms, and when I called into the reception to report that I could not find any available networks, I was promised prompt help.  Which, never arrived, because, in fact, the lodge’s wi-fi network was so weak that my phone or laptop could only pick it up within 25 for 50 feet of the main office.  Now, it is fine being basically off the grid, with connectivity available only in public areas (in fact, the limited connectivity throughout Tanzania is one reason I am blogging this trip only after getting home) but I did not appreciate the lack of candor about the limits on connectivity.

We enjoyed a swim in the afternoon of our arrival, and headed in for an early dinner.  Although the place touts itself as being child friendly, the fine print indicated that they want small children to be done with dining by 6:30, to ensure a more peaceful experience for the grownups.  I can understand that – our grandchildren can be obstreperous when dining out.  But actually getting the food that early turns out to be a problem.  We were assigned a particular dining area away from where most people were eating – and it was a nice location, an outdoor space covered with tenting material

and near the trees where the black-and-white colobus monkeys could often bee seen during the breakfast period. 






There was also a dining area down closer to the lake; we had a lunch there during our stay, and it was my impression that the lodge was making an effort to cycle all of the guests through that eating area.  It had a more romantic feel in the evenings with lighting by small bulbs

Our second day at Africa Amini Life

We were awakened just before 6 AM for our final day at African Amini Life, because the morning was crystal clear and we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunrise.  The staff delivered pots of coffee and tea to our hut along with some small muffins to tide us over until breakfast, and we sat on the verandah of the hut to take in the view

After breakfast we went for an herb walk with our guide, Lowassa. 

Mt. Kilimanjaro loomed in the distance

He identified several species of acacia trees on our walk – out of the 56 varieties in all

This one, the yellow bark acacia

is the giraffe’s favorite.  It also provides good firewood.  Here it is grouped with a lime and olive tree; all planted deliberately in a location where they are fed by water runoff from a hut;s shower

Our second Tanzanian Vacation Begins -- first on Zanzibar, then in Maasai Country

    
We flew to Zanzibar by way of Istanbul, but we had barely enough time in that airport to grab a quick meal of various Turkish foods before boarding a plane for the second leg of our trip to Zanzibar,  We reached Zanzibar at about 4 AM, where we were met by our son Sam and our machitunem Mohamed.  They took us to their house where we grateful showered and fell into bed; we were able to sleep until about  9 AM when our grandchildren simply could not be denied a chance to greet us.

The day was a peaceful on as we began to recuperate from our long plane trip, although we did get out in the mid-afternoon for a visit to Wajamama,  the women’s wellness center clinic that our daughter-in-law Nafisa has started.  We got a quick tour of the facility. 

then headed home and re-packed our bags to head off to the airport for a flight to Kilimanjaro Airport.  The flight on Tanzania Air was efficient, but it was an early evening flight; by the time we landed, were picked up by a driver and driven over bumpy roads that our driver described as an “African massage,” it was close to 11 PM before we reached our destination, the Maasai Lodge of Africa Amina Life .  It was a clear night, and we paused to appreciate the astonishing array of stars overhead – the hotel was a long way from the closest settlement and even that, as we were to learn the following day, was a fairly modest affair, so there were little ambient light to conceal the stars from us  Our hosts fed us soup and we fell into bed, exhausted. 

We were told that we would be awakened at 6 with coffee or tea, if Mt.  Kilimanjaro were visible (apparently, we would be able to see it from our huts).  Otherwise, the coffee and tea would be at 7, and breakfast thereafter.  Bottom line: what happened to the amazing clear skies the night before?  the horizon was filled with clouds that morning, so we were awakened at 7 with a tray with coffee, tea and muffins:  from there we headed to the central area for a nice buffet breakfast.

Amina African Life is a Maasai-run and owned facility, dedicated to showing off and preserving Maasai culture.  All of the common buildings (containing a shop, a bar, and a few dining rooms),