Ngorongoro Travel Guide

 Penelope4 Says:  Do you think you can differentiate zebras from one another? I tried but I could not. Maybe because I use the stripes as point of comparison. Next time, I will try to use height and size to distinguish them from one another. 

 Penelope4 Says:  If you think the hyaenas can just join the lion when the latter is having a meal, think again. What happens is, the hyaenas gather together and wait until the lion has had enough and then they eat the left over. Hyaenas look like something between tiger and hippo to me. But... 

 Penelope4 Says:  So we were having lunch at the picnic ground...the hippos were just loving the water and won't show themselves up. I was about to become impatient and then came these yellowish birds. SLLiew recognized this bird as Lesser Masked Weaver. 

 Penelope4 Says:  They look so kind. Lions eat them. I actually saw a fresh kill and on our way back from the game-drive I saw its remains. Apparently, the lion comes back to eat some more of the flesh and when it has enough, the hyaenas finish the wildebeest totally. 

 fishandchips Says:  The diminuative worthog is alive and well in the crater and can be seen often. With its small tusks and quick stepping it is one of the more interesting animals to view. Pumba lives in the longer grass and tries to blend in and out of the notice of the hungry predators. 

 fishandchips Says:  The movement of the Wildebeest is the heartbeat of the Serengeti and surrounds. Each migration includes the movement of the Wildebeests predators as they follow their food supply. From the Serengeti to the Maasai Mara over 1.4 million wildebeest migrate in a clockwise... 

 fishandchips Says:  The only way to see animals in the crater is via Jeep. Most are purpose built with open tops so that you can stand and take your photos. Drives start from your camp site and go down into the crater via the guard post at the entrance. As the crater is reputed to have over... 

 fishandchips Says:  The Ostrich is the largest living bird in the world with only the extinct Giant Moa (up to 3.7M) and Elephant Bird (up to 3M) taller. Famed for many things, including being Zola Buds training buddy, the Ostrich can be seen running about the Crater area in search of a quick... 

 fishandchips Says:  Not part of the Crater but in the Ngorongoro Conservation area, Olduvai Gorge is a place to visit and is situated in the plains area. The gorge is named after the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant you see growing around the gorge, called Oldupai. The story goes that the... 

 fishandchips Says:  Apparently all Elephants in the Crater are male due to the difficulty of walking up and down the steep sides! The Elephants we saw on our drive were all rather large with one massive beast having a meeting with an elderly male Lion - fantastic stuff!! 

 fishandchips Says:  As with other places like the Serengeti and Maasai Mara, the Ngorongoro Crater has quite a few lions. During the daylight hours they are either hunting, eating or sleeping and can normally be found quietly hiding in the long grass that cover a lot of the Crater's floor. 

 easterntrekker Says:  The highlight for us was seeing the endangered black Rhino. They were quite far off but we had a pretty good look with binoculars. They are the reason many come to the crater. At the beginning of the 20th century their numbers in Africa were estimated to be in the hundreds... 

 easterntrekker Says:  We then drove for quite a while without seeing much of anything. This surprised us as we wrongly assumed animals would always be here in large numbers, but the crater is huge and during the time of drought the animals rest out of the hot sun. When we reach a jungle area we... 

 fishandchips Says:  The view from the top is breath taking with the soda lake in the distance and the floor of the crater stretching out for miles. The bottom of the crater is so far below that no animals can be seen (with my eyes!!) unless you have some powerful binoculars.?