Ngorogoro Crater March 15

Once again I apologize for the delay in my entries. Our internet at the homebase is not working, we are having many power outages and I can't always get into town.

Safari

So,I believe we are now on Saturday at Ngororngoro Crater. This was the best day ofthe safari! The crater was formed by a collaspsed volcano. It is a very flat land with the high walls of  the crater all around it. Many animals live here.|We were very fortunate to spot two cheetas. Apparantly they are usually elusive and when they are spotted they run away. These two stayed for about 15 minutes. They are amazingly beautiful, but still so very like my cats at home in their mannerisms. We saw elephants, zebra, buffalo, ostrich, Dik Dik, antelope, warthogs, and many more animals! We also were very lucky to see a rhino and a baby. They are very scarce. We ate at a picnic area by a pool full of hippos. It was fun watching the heads come out of the water. After lunch it rained a little, which turned out to be great for us. The big cats do not like wet grass, so we got to see a whole pride of lions, several females, one male and several cubs. The cubs were playing just like kittens! The malel ion has a very dark mane. He decided to get frisky with one of the females, so we had the pleasure of watching them run as he chased her and they played a courting game! The other females and cubs crossed the road right in front of us! Awesome! I wish so much that I had the pictures to show you now, but I will send them all to you when I return home. That night we ate at camp and then went to visit a Massai village. The Massai warriors are a very old tribe.They live in huts made of cowdung and mud. The Massai usually will not allow their pictures to be taken,but they have allowed this particular site the priviledge in order to make money to send their children to school. It is a very hard way of life. The children and adults have faces covered with flies. They are very dirty. They have herds of cows. They only eat beef, blood and milk. Yuch! They were quite fascinated with my hair and everyone wanted to touch it. They did a tribal dance for us, and showed us the inside of one of their huts. Very dark inside! There is a bed for the husband, and one for the wife and children. The fire to cook is in the middle without any ventilation. Very claustaphobic! I found it very sad and was glad to leave their village.

Safari

We went back to camp and took turns roasting coffee beans over an open fire. When they were brown and toasty, then we took turns with a morter and pestule to grind them up for coffee in the morning. Then it was time for bed!

Sunday we got up early and had breakfast, then went to Tangangere Natl park. Not as many animals their, but it was a very beautiful park. We did get to see lots of giraffes and babies! At lunch we had some of our lunch stolen by some Blue Balled Monkeys! They were very fast and had turquoise balls, I KID YOU NOT! Then it was time for our 3 hour ride back to homebase. The whole safari was truly wonderful and I would highly recommend it to anyone. If I come again, I would like to go to the Serengeti.

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