This morning we drove to Tarangire National Park arriving late morning for a pre-lunch game drive.  The park is noted for having the highest number of elephants per square kilometer of any place on the planet.  We certainly saw elephants.  

There are monkeys that hang around the park entrance, they look for food.  We were warned to both keep the windows closed and top down while waiting for our guide to pay our park fees as the monkeys will try to get in the vehicles and steal food.  I did hear one guy, who had left the windows open yell at a monkey he thought was getting to close.  One monkey was enjoying a banana, I’m not sure if he had stolen it or someone had given it to him.

The elephants here look brown rather than the gray we’ve seen previously.  We were told this is from the mud in the water that they spray on themselves to keep cool.  Looking closer to the elephant, you can tell that, yes, it’s mud.

Back at lower elevations, it’s warmer … and more humid.  I was feeling a bit dehydrated earlier in the day and managed to drink nearly 4 liters of water.  Water helps.

We’ve seen animals that we’ve seen other places, more elephants and giraffes than before.  We saw one lion napping under a bush.

After lunch and a time to relax we had a couple of hour afternoon  game drive.  Tomorrow I head to the airport for a short flight to Zanzibar

This morning we saw a Rhinoceros, completing Tanzania’s “Big 5” animals during this trip.  The Big 5 are animals prized by poachers for their skin, hoofs, tusks, teeth and horns, they are all dangerous animals.  The Big 5 are the Elephant, Buffalo, Rhinoceros, Lion and Leopard.  We saw 4 of the 5 today, the Leopard is not found in Ngorongora Crater.  The Leopard and Rhinoceros are the most difficult to see, the Leopard is the only one of the 5 that we’ve only seen one of.

We saw about a dozen animals today in Ngorongoro Crater, I made notes of Grant Gazelle, Wildebeest, Warthog, Rhino, Buffalo, Black Bucket Jackal, Lions, Élan Antelope, Elephant, Zebra and Golden Jackal.  We also saw a variety of birds.

Ngorongora Crater is a volcanic crater with a 99 acre salt lake, many of the animals like the salt.  Vegetation in the crater is primarily grass.

I’ve never been a big fan of zoos, this trip is only showing why keeping animals in small areas is just wrong.

Today was a drive through Serengeti National Park then into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with a stop at a Maasi village.  The Maasi are an indigenous people, originally nomadic.  They raise cattle and don’t eat of otherwise harvest the wild animals; this is why they are allowed to live in the conservation area.

I’m not sure my list is complete but I noted seeing Impala, Buffalo, Zebra, Wildebeast, Leopard Turtle, Black Faced aka Vervet Monkey, Crocodile, Olive Baboon, Hippo, Giraffe, Honey Badger, Hyena plus a number of birds.

The numbers of Zebra and Wildebeast were amazing; they covered the ground as far as one could see.  These 2 animals travel together because they need each other.  The Wildebeast has eye on the side of its head which limits its vision while the zebra has eye in front giving it forward vision.  There will always be a zebra in the front of a migrating herd.  Other senses of the Wildebeast help to protect the herd from predators.

The Maasi village we visited welcomes paying customers.  The houses are very small, made of branches and dung.  They are polygamous, the number of wives one is allowed depends on how many cows you have, 10 cows for 1 wife, 20 cows for 2 wives.  Our guide listed up to 40 cows for 4 wives, he said he has 2 wives.

After visiting the village we continued on to our lodge which overlooks Ngorongoro Crater.