Tanzania Honeymoon

October 14, 6:45 pm:
Our afternoon game drive started out promising - saw a pride of 13 lions along a stream bed not too far from some buffalo. We thought the lions might make a move on the buffalo - even though the buffalo could outrun a lion in a long race, they can't accelerate quickly, and thus its relatively easy for lions to ambush them. After a while of watching, though, it was apparent that the lions werenít interested in hunting, so we left. We headed east, out into the open grasslands, in search of cheetah. But we didn't see anything except the gazelles, reedbucks, and hartebeest. No problem, though, because it was a gorgeous evening - the grasses glowing in the late light, a near full moon rising above the granite kopjes, solitary acacias standing watch over the endless plains, shadows moving slowly across the great expanse, beams of light descending through the clouds in the western sky.

October 15, 10:15 pm:
We left Seronera this morning, doing a game drive on the way out of the park. At one point Tobias saw a cheetah way out in the plains (way, way out past our pathetic vision). We headed cross-country to investigate, but Tobias couldnít find it again, so we continued on our way. We stopped for a while at Olduvai Gorge (where the Leakeyís did all their work on early man, and where footprints have been found that are 3.5 million years old). We heard a lecture on the work there, and visited a small museum on the site, which was interesting.
    Afterwards, we visited a Maasai village. This, too, was interesting, although it was disappointing to see how commercial they had become in the wake of tourists like ourselves. I hate feeling like I'm part of the problem.
    After Olduvai we headed back into Ngorongoro Crater and did a game drive there. It was a steep drive down the 2000 feet onto the floor of the caldera, a self-contained Eden. There is permanent water here, too, despite the dry season, and most of the 30,000 resident mammals find no need to leave. One of the extra special draws to this park is the fact that 16 rhinos live on the floor of the crater. Given the 100 square miles of crater floor and heavily forested slopes, spotting one may still be difficult, but this is certainly our best (and last) hope.
    We didn't see a rhino on our first drive, although we did see another pride of lions with cubs, and we burned a lot of film on them. Maybe weíll see a rhino tomorrow.
    After our drive we headed up the far side of the crater to the Sopa Lodge. Another incredible place, with each bungalow sitting right on the rim of the crater, each with an incredible view. It was pretty rough, sitting with beer in hand, watching the sun set over the crater. After dinner we went out and I tried a 30 minute exposure of the crater lit by moonlight. Weíll see if it works.

October 16:
We left for the crater floor this morning around 7:30. It takes a while to descend the 2000 feet of rough road. It used to be that you could camp inside the crater, eliminating the wasted time traveling in and out every morning and evening. Understandably, that policy had to change as more and more tourists flooded the enclosed area. Unfortunately, most of the animal activity takes place in the early morning and late afternoon.