The Manor At Ngorongoro Ngorongoro Conservation Area

... sky and the salt was a brilliant white in the sunshine and I was absolutely FULFILLED with my safari.

It was a quick stop to pick up our stuff at camp and head back to Arusha....

Of this leg I'll mention only that we had a strategic stop to drop off Michael's tiny suitcase (with wheels) at his rather nice home (and this not only when speaking relatively to the other houses in his hood) and meeting his entire family, bar one. When we finally got to the Jacaranda, our ...

... seemed, standing splay legged and almost losing his balance before laying down in a genteel way, as if it were his intentions the whole while. Then he was up again and no sooner had he looked to his left then he was slipping off the side, his glory and pride going with him.

By this point our truck had edged forward and we had an even better view. We watched as the male got up and lay down nearby, a cub brazenly ...

... was creeping up on a mama and two small warthogs piglets. The lion was crouched and slowly crawling closer and closer. Then all of a sudden another lion appeared behind him and made a slow calculated move to the left flank of the warthogs. He disappeared somewhere in the grass and I didn’t see him until later. The first lion was still slowly crawling up and seemed pretty close to me. I would guess something like 10 meters away but I’m ...

... stuff you generally think much about as a doctor but it was interesting to see how they deal with the problem of being in such a remote area and getting the supplies they need, things that aren't an issue at home.
While in Karatu we stayed with the volunteer coordinator for the clinic, Caroline, who's a very switched on very organised German girl who likes a bit of a drink. Her place had a pub in the compound literally 50 feet from the door: 1 pound ...

... heart” which makes them easy to spot.

7. Next came Pumbaa and the other warthogs. Man, are they ugly. I don’t need to see them again.

8. We then traveled to a lovely oasis, filled with pretty blue water and bright green watercress. Many animals congregated there … hippos, Cape buffalo, white pelicans and many other species of birds. It was fun to see them all together at this ...

... a foot high, with a shiny black coat that shimmers with a blue tone in the sun.

2. Next, the elephant, the first of the Big Five (elephant, lion, rhino, Cape buffalo, leopard) everyone tries to see while in Africa. Fun to watch the adult couple, but even more fun to watch the baby we finally spotted in the trees.

3. Next an open plain of giraffes, who wandered toward our vehicles, almost charging one. They are so fun to ...

... the larger cities than the Serengeti, it has a fairly large big game population and a smaller area than the Serengeti to view them.

The crater is actually a collapsed volcano or caldera. It may have been higher than Mt. Kilimanjaro and collapsed in on itself over time and now forms a perfect basin which measures 18 km. (11 mi.) in diameter, lies 500 m. (1640 ft.) below the rim which towers above it at 2200 m. (7217 ft.) above sea level. It is ...

... nor long and we discovered that the three of us spooning was the best position for sleep. I was exhausted and managed to sleep better than expected although I did wake up several times with aching pains from the hard bed and little bites from the bed bugs. At about seven am, the calf, hungry for her mother’s milk, began to moo loudly and the noise echoed throughout the hut. Then the small kitten began to meow loudly as I woke and remembered where I was.

Ema came ...

... so we quickly had an early dinner and retired for the night knowing the next day would bring us great surprises in the crater. Day 3 After an early breakfast we headed down into the crater just about at sunrise. A drive through the high grass brought us to a herd of wild buffalo. They kept up their grazing while we just stared at their sheer size. We do have water buffaloes in India where we live but our buffaloes looked like dwarves in front of ...

... first night we met two people that were in our group. There names were Phyllis and Bob. They were from Texas and were very nice. I really enjoyed doing the volunteer work. The first day we were there it was Phyllis and Bob's last day. So for most of our time there, we were the only non-local volunteers. There were other volunteers there that were locals, like Augustino (the "foreman" of the project). He taught us how to do all the things that we didn't know how to do right. It ...