Day 2 - First Safari in the Crater

Early start this morning.  I didn't sleep great, after we went to bed last night I slept until about 1am (from 9pm) when I got up to use the bathroom and then it took me over an hour (maybe 2) to go back to sleep.  When the alarm went off at 5:30am I was regretting my life choices (namely 2 drinks with rum, triple sec and tequila in them).

Last night for dinner we ate at the set menu restaurant, which is included in our stay.  Your starter was a mixed plate of very small portions but they all sounded good - you got a spoonful of hummus, a small pita (like a mini naan the size of an orange slice), a couple bitefuls of greens with pomagranate and a little tuna empanada - when I told the server that I was just going to have the starter and that's it his look said "Gurl, that's not enough food"..his voice said "I don't think that's enough food" lol - I said that's all I needed though, but Mom ordered a starter too in case it wasn't enough (it was).  Jay had a soup followed by chicken tikka masala for dinner and didn't have dessert and Mom had osso buco with veggies. I had a bite of each and they were both delicious.

Yesterday we ordered breakfast boxes and a picnic lunch for today because the plan is to come back around 3pm.  When we ordered the food boxes and they listed what was inside we thought it was choices but turns out it was everything on the list - Mom said "I guess we should make some friends on our safari to share all that food with".  We went to the lobby and Abraham had already picked up the food and had it packed into the truck. 

As we were leaving the room Jay noted that I had on my coat and said "You're bringing your coat?"  I'm like "it's raining out and it might be cold" and when Mom came out of her room with her coat on but just a long sleeve shirt under it I reminded her that yesterday she was chilled and maybe bring another long sleeve or her scarf/wrap so she went back in and got it - they were both very thankful later because it was a damp, chilly morning!

I said today that we need more pictures of each other so we got one before we headed out.

Mom said as we were leaving the gate "this really feels like an adventure now since we're leaving in the dark!"  I asked Abraham what's the most exciting thing he's ever seen on safari and he said that once he had seen a lion that was attacking a zebra and the zebra, to get away, jumped into a hippo pool and a hippo attacked the lion in order to protect the zebra and the zebra got away.  As we were driving I asked some more questions - most people rent their homes and don't own, rent for a decent apartment is between $75-90USD per month and the average person (for example coming out of University and working in an office job) might make $900 a month. Jay asked what the lights were in the Crater at night (because there are no accommodations in the Crater) and they're Ranger Stations, there are stations above and then stations within the Crater to help to reduce poaching.

As we entered down into the crater I asked Abraham why the descending road was cobblestone and he said that it's to prevent washout and that it took 2 years to build the road down because each stone was made and fit by hand - later when we were coming up the ascending road I asked why it was interlock while the road going down was cobblestone and he said for the way down it's more important for gripping that the road isn't so even so the cobblestone is a better option.

As soon as we got to the bottom of the crater we started to see animals - Gazelle, Zebra and Wildebeest aplenty, Abraham says there are approximately 30,000 Zebra and Wildebeest in the crater (and I think we saw every one), that no 2 Zebra have the same stripe pattern, and that Wildebeest babies are due to be born in February but some have been born early this year so there are some young ones and Zebra and Wildebeest travel together because Zebra eat the long, tougher grass and Wildebeest eat the short, softer grasses that the Zebra leave behind as well as sheer numbers protect them from predators.  I got some great video that you'll have to go to my Instagram for @danamiddleton.ca because they never show right on here. It's stopped raining now so we've popped the roof up.

 

We saw a hyena running after another hyena who had a baby gazelle in it's mouth "just a little breakfast"  Abraham said.

Did you know that Flamingos are native to Africa?  I did not.  But they are, and there are a lot of them in the crater.

Abraham had told us that Hippos are mostly nocturnal, they'll roam at night eating grass and then in the day they go into the pools of water to digest and because their skin is prone to sunburn so they need to stay in the water to stay cool.  We saw a lot of hippos today - here are all the photos of them at once (they're not very close so not very clear).  The second time we saw Hippos in a pool Jay said to Abraham "I'm glad you're here, I thought those were rocks" and then we referred to them as "more African rocks" for the rest of the day.  Abraham says that a school of Hippos could be up to 100 large in the Serengeti.

Next we saw some Grand Gazelle, Elon (the largest in the antelope family, which apparently I didn't get a photo of), Buffalo (which always have birds following them because they disturb the earth and insects).

We saw 3 Rhinos today, Abraham says it is very rare to see Black Rhino and there are less than 30 in the Crater, none will be seen too close to the road because they don't like the trucks.  If a Rhino has 2 horns and a concave back it's a Black Rhino.  He told us that in order to reduce poaching in South Africa the Rangers are tranquilizing Rhino's and removing their horns because that will make them useless to poachers.

The speck in the centre of the opening is a Rhino - this is how elusive they are.

When you see a couple of other Land Cruisers stopped on the road you stop to investigate.  Turns out a male lion was lounging by the side of the road so we got a really good look at him this morning.

I left the bar of the truck roof purposefully in some photos to you can get some sense of how close he was.

There are about 100 Lions in the crater between all the prides. This was very cool and Abraham says it's rare to catch video of Lions walking.  

We saw Osterich a few times today.

Where we stopped for breakfast (and bathroom break, there are 3 bathrooms down in the Crater) at a picnic area where there is a freshwater spring, so it never dries out where we saw more African Rocks.  This is where we had our breakfast boxes which none of us finished - I had my croissant with a bit of jam, one pc of toast and the sausage and gave Jay my hard boiled egg.

There were more birds in this area, trying to get crumbs likely - I think it was about 8:30am when we stopped so all of the animals we had seen thus far were in the span of less than 2 hours (it took about 35 mins to get down into the crater).  Jay sent Kish some photos and Kish said "Wow, well you've seen everything so next time you come you can just golf" lol.

We got back on the road and passed a buffalo carcass and shortly after our first Elephant!

I don't usually include too many photos of birds - but this one is called the Black Bellied Bastard (I had Abraham repeat the name) so Jay said it had to go in the blog.  I just googled it, it's called the Black Bellied BUSTARD but it can still get it's pic in.

Shortly after we saw some Hippos out of the water - two male Hippos fighting for dominance.  I said that usually when we see an animated Hippo they have blunt teeth - Hippos do not have blunt teeth!  They have tusk like teeth and the one Hippo was bleeding from a wound in his stomach during the fight.  I have some good video of it as well.

Apparently it's rare to see Hippos standing off like this and at this point I'm wondering if it's rare like we told the girls that Pigeons were rare in Monaco just because they like rare things.

Here we passed our hotel on the Crater Rim.  The Crater was created by a collapsed volcano so it's got pretty vertical edges the entire way around - Jay was surprised there are even Hippos here, what would have made them climb up the mountain and then down into the Crater in the first place.

We saw a Grand Gazelle who had a baby and as we were watching it try to walk Abraham said that it was likely just born this morning given how wobbly it still was.

Second Bathroom Break since we were driving right by.  They had an Elephant Skull displayed - the skull is porous, making it lighter because if it were solid bone it would be very heavy. Also that Elephant lose their teeth every 10 years or so, they live about 60 years and it's after they lose their last set that they can't eat enough and won't survive long after.

The monkeys can be aggressive when they see a banana lol.

We're now into the forested area that's below our hotel (where we saw the Elephants from afar yesterday), it didn't take us long to see monkeys and then I spotted something in a tree and asked Abraham to back up, it's called a Tree Hyrax and it's somehow related to the Elephant he said.

Then we saw Baboons and just off to the side of the road an Elephant really close.  And then it walked towards us and got REALLY REALLY close.  As it approached Jay and I were standing with our head and shoulders out of the top of the roof and Abraham said "Just Freeze, don't move".  It stood in front of the car for a few minutes before deciding we aren't a threat and moving on.

We later said to Abraham, what would have happened if we made noise or a sudden movement?  He said "you would have been a fool".

Abraham has hawk eyes and spotted a Serval Cat, he said it's extremely rare to see one, they mostly eat mice and have a more successful hunting rate then Lions or any other predators.  Jay called him an animal savant and our African Jesus, he's so in tune with the landscape and able to spot animals so easily. lol

Mom was getting tired, and now for the most part we were seeing more Zebra and Wildebeests than anything, plus it was getting BUSY - we're so glad that we went into the park early because where we had seen the Lion by the road there were 3-4 trucks there at the time.  We can see in the distance what looks like a herd of Wildebeests and we pull out the binoculars it's about 70 trucks stopped on the road in a long lineup for a chance to see the Lion.  Abraham said in peak season there could be 700 trucks in the Crater in a day. Peak Season would be July - September (school holidays) but now is the best time to see the animals while it's cool and has been rainy.  It only rained this morning for about an hour, the drive into the Crater and maybe another 20 minutes.  Anyway, we discussed and Abraham said he would take us up the hills, then to lunch at the picnic area and then back to the hotel for about 1:30pm so he started to book it through the area only stopping or slowing if there was something good to see - Jay called it the Safari Express - like these things:

Hyena, Warthog, sleeping lioness, elephant, sleeping lion, lunch , elephant and up the Crater and back to the lodge.

 (There are 3 lions sleeping here)

 

Lunch actually deserves some comment - we had real plates, cutlery and salt and pepper!  It was Tikka Masala - I ended up having another scoop of rice on top of what is on my plate.

 

Here are some other just beautiful pics of the Crater itself.

Now Jay went to the gym briefly while I worked on the blog.  This was his view.

For some reason all the photos aren't syncing to my laptop so I have to go in and manually upload from my phone all the ones from the two zebras onward which could take me a while.  Jay's back now and napping, I think Mom is napping too - it's 3:11 and we are meeting at 6pm for drinks and I made reservations for dinner at 7pm at the other restaurant, The Crater Grill which you have to pay for but we have 300,000 credit for as part of our stay which is approx $120 USD.  The rest of the food is All Inclusive and if we wanted to eat at The Crater Lounge like last night it would be covered under our nightly fee.

I ended up napping for an hour and a half.  I set a timer for one hour and after the hour I set a timer for another 45 mins and woke up at 5:30pm.  The plan is to meet for 6pm for drinks so I knocked on Mom's adjoining door and she was just up as well so we were still on for 6.

We sat by the fire since we were still a bit chilly.  Mom and Jay had Kilimanjaro or Serengeti lagers and I had another Ngorongoro My Home drink and we ordered some banana chips.

We went to dinner, it was delicious - they do everything on a charcoal grill.  Mom and I shared a Wagu Tenderloin, mushroom risotto and veggies and Jay had Wagu Rib Eye and veggies with a tomato salad to start and had banoffee pie at the end.  I was explaining that you can make caramel sauce with sweetened condensed milk in a dutch oven and Jay, ever the child that he is, lost it "You can't make caramel in a dutch oven".

We sat by the fire again and we are the only people in here because A) it's not part of the all inclusive and B) everyone else is likely European and doesn't think that the restaurant opening at 7pm is so late it's ridiculous (like I do).

A little welcome drink of orange juice and cinnamon and amuse bouche of sourdough, wagu steak and chimichuri.

Now it's 8:40pm, just doing a final review of the blog will post and go to bed.  Up at 6:45am tomorrow to have breakfast at 7:30 and then meet Abraham to leave at 8am for the Tented Camp - goal for tomorrow... Giraffes!