Lake Manyara & Ngorongoro Crater Safari

Even after completing our exciting trek up Mount Kilimanjaro, our Tanzanian adventure wasn't over yet, as we still had a two-day safari to enjoy! The first day involved driving from the hotel in Moshi to Lake Manyara, which took about 5 hours. The rest of the day was spent driving around and exploring Lake Manyara whilst being on the lookout for wildlife, before stopping at our campsite a few miles away. The next morning, we set off early to get to Ngorongoro Crater, for the second day of our safari, which was only a short distance from Lake Manyara.

Lake Manyara National Park

We set off from Moshi at 9:00 am after a filling breakfast and began our long drive to Lake Manyara. As we drove, we spotted Kilimanjaro in the distance, which brought back good, and some tiresome memories. We spent most of the drive sleeping, as many of us were still exhausted, having only been back from climbing Kilimanjaro less than a day! It took us 5 hours to drive there when in reality, it should have taken 3. That's Tanzanian time for you! Everyone enjoys taking their time... During the drive, the road became more of a track than a tarmac road. With our speedy (perhaps reckless?) driver and the uneven bouncy roads, we were being flung around the vehicle constantly! It didn't even have seat belts, so we just had to cling on for dear life. I even sent my family a quick text telling them I loved them just in case the worst happened! I don't think I've ever felt more relieved when we saw a tarmac road in the distance as if it was the light at the end of a tunnel. Once arriving at Lake Manyara National Park, we immediately sat down to have some lunch, but we got the feeling someone (or something) was watching us... It soon became apparent, that a group of baboons were hovering around nearby in hopes of sharing our lunch, unfortunately for them, we finished it ourselves. After lunch, we got back into our safari trucks and headed out to begin the safari. As we drove through the gate, we were more or less immediately met by a young elephant enjoying eating from a tree on the side of the track. We were able to get quite close as it moved out into the clearing, this gave us a great view and photo opportunity, before moving on. Only minutes later, we spotted some more animals, Baboons! We stopped on a part of the track, which was sheltered by the trees and the more we looked, the more baboons we spotted. They came very close so the guide warned us to close the windows as they are known to hop in and steal belongings (eek!).  The area opened out as we entered the swampy grasslands, where we spotted thousands of migrating birds have a drink from the marsh and some wild pigs (Pumba in Swahili) scavenging in the grass. We pulled up next to a few other vehicles near a viewing platform, the guide told us it was safe to get out and go to the platform. As we got to the top someone spotted a hippo in the marshland below! It was only coming up for some air but took everyone by surprise. A signpost nearby read that there are over 600 hippos underwater in that area of marsh alone. It was hard to comprehend how on earth 600 of these massive creatures could fit in this small area, it must be a squeeze down there! After driving out of the boggy marshes, we headed towards the dryer savannah where we spotted some zebras. The guide explained that all zebras and giraffes have unique patterns, like humans and fingerprints. We continued driving until our guide was radioed in by another guide who said that he had found some giraffes! What seemed like 10 seconds later, we turned a corner to spot 3 gorgeous giraffes in the open savannah; two adults and a baby. We stared in awe at the beautiful creatures, admiring how elegant and slow-paced they were. The giraffes seemed curious but didn't get too close to the vehicles, this gave us some great photo opportunities. Our next stop was at some well-needed toilets, there was an option of a pit-latrine, but after the bad experiences up Kilimanjaro, we all chose to wait longer if it meant we could use a flush toilet. We sat down on a bench, and admired the view of Lake Manyara, it extended far into the distance and the width almost covered the horizon. Lake Manyara covers 89 square miles, but is very shallow, with the deepest part being only 12ft deep! It was late afternoon by this point, and we were all getting hungry and restless, the pesky flies and mosquitos didn't help either! We headed back towards the gate until we spotted an elephant hiding in the trees! At least this diverted our attention from our rumbling bellies and itchy skin, for a while anyway. We stayed the night in a small campsite with normal wooden beds, it was like a dream come true! The food was similar to the meals we had on Kilimanjaro, but there was more of it. Everyone pigged out until they couldn't force down another bite of familiar beef stew and plain pasta before heading to the tents for a good nights sleep. 

Ngorongoro Crater We thought yesterday's get up time was unreasonably early, so we were all in for a shock when we were woken up and dragged to breakfast at 5 am, before setting off on a short journey to Ngorongoro Crater, which was about an hour away. Ngorongoro Crater is described as a natural enclosure for animals as the steep sides of the crater keep most of the animals contained in the 100 square miles inside the crater. However, there are no giraffes within the crater as they are unable to traverse the steep slopes. Ngorongoro Crater is located on top of a large volcanic caldera, it is the world's largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic crater. Alongside Kilimanjaro, it is also one of the seven wonders of Africa! It is estimated that over 25,000 animals live within the Ngorongoro Crater. Our vehicle was a few minutes ahead of the rest of our group so we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking the crater. The view was breath-taking! We got a perfect panoramic view of the entire crater, which put it into perspective how massive this place was! Once the other groups caught us up, we began our steep descent into the crater, passing through various Masai villages along the crater ridge - they are the local tribe to this region of Tanzania, raising their cattle in the areas surrounding the Ngorongoro Crater. About 10 minutes into the safari, we spotted a lioness and her 3 cubs bouncing around on the savannah! They were quite a distance away but we could just about make out what they were before they took refuge in the bushes from the crowd. The crater is known for having one of the densest populations of Masai lions, with over 50 of them prowling around the crater!  The abundance of wildebeests in the crater was clear once we arrived in the grasslands, near one of the lakes, where hundreds of them were grazing. The younger wildebeests were chasing each other around, whilst the older ones focussed on eating. Alongside wildebeests, there were also numerous zebras populating the area too. They came quite close to the vehicle which made a difference from the zebras at Lake Manyara previously who preferred to keep their distance. We arrived at Hippo Lake for lunch, this time without crowds of baboons watching! Instead, we were an audience to a large group of hippos. They came up to breathe every few minutes, their true scale became apparent at this distance. I do recall someone describing them as 'bigger than a sofa' - she wasn't wrong! Despite hippos being an incredibly dangerous animal, they are also incredibly graceful and cute in a bald rubbery kind of way. As we had to get back to the hotel in Moshi to pack, we had to leave Ngorongoro Crater after lunch, but not before we spotted a young elephant striding towards us. As we took photos of the gentle animal, our guide pointed out a rare black rhino in the distance behind us. It is estimated that there are less than 15 black rhinos in the crater, so seeing one of them was a rare opportunity, even from afar. It was saddening to know our Tanzanian adventure was nearly over. It was an experience and opportunity of a lifetime, climbing Kilimanjaro was the most incredible thing I've done, and seeing animals in their natural habitat on the safari was beautiful. I was so gutted to leave, but you've always got to come home, before being able to go back again...