Crater July 14

Tanzania

Tuesday, July 14

Ngorongoro Crater

The road to Ngorongoro Crater takes the prize for the most bumps and ruts. I think that Disneyland could come up with a new roller coaster ride based on this road; a ride with twists and turns, ups and downs where you get thrown and jerked around all the while seeing amazingly lush growth and wildlife alongside the road.

The crater is phenomenal. After traveling down the road into the crater you see before you a vast, open area teeming with wildlife. There are no trees within many parts of the crater, only tall weeds and grasses. We were able to see lots of wildebeest, zebras, Grant's gazelles, and Cape buffalo all grazing peacefully together in large groups or herds. Some lions rested in the tall weeds near these grazing animals. I'm sure if the lions had appeared less relaxed and more ready to hunt the peaceful grazing would have stopped as many eyes were watching the lions.

We saw several ostriches, the male having very pink legs since it was ready to mate. One of the small ponds was covered with algae so when a hippo popped up to take a breath it was covered in green slime. It looked pretty silly, like a hippo wearing a Halloween costume or disguise. I don't think it liked the feel of the algae covering its body because after it submerged and moved to another part of the pond it popped up and then rolled over to get the slimy algae off its body. What a funny sight to see those chubby little legs sticking up out of the water for a moment as it rolled over.

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The road to Ngorongoro Crater takes the prize for the most bumps and ruts. I think that Disneyland could come up with a new roller coaster ride based on this road; a ride with twists and turns, ups and downs where you get thrown and jerked around all the while seeing amazingly lush growth and wildlife alongside the road.	The crater is phenomenal. After traveling down the road into the crater you see before you a vast, open area teeming with wildlife. There are no trees within many parts of the crater, only tall weeds and grasses. We were able to see lots of wildebeest, zebras, Grant's gazelles, and Cape buffalo all grazing peacefully together in large groups or herds. Some lions rested in the tall weeds near these grazing animals. I'm sure if the lions had appeared less relaxed and more ready to hunt the peaceful grazing would have stopped as many eyes were watching the lions.

We saw several ostriches, the male having very pink legs since it was ready to mate. One of the small ponds was covered with algae so when a hippo popped up to take a breath it was covered in green slime. It looked pretty silly, like a hippo wearing a Halloween costume or disguise. I don't think it liked the feel of the algae covering its body because after it submerged and moved to another part of the pond it popped up and then rolled over to get the slimy algae off its body. What a funny sight to see those chubby little legs sticking up out of the water for a moment as it rolled over.