Ngorongoro Crater

Our fourth and last safari was to Ngorongoro Crater, a large caldera near the Serengeti. Once again, although we had already seen many of the animals before, it was great to see them in a different environment.

Ngorongoro Crater

The crater itself is huge, far bigger than we expected. Its sheer rock faces rise 2,000 feet above the flat floor, which is covered in dry grass, much like Masai Mara. It was beautiful to not only see the crater from above, but to see the animals with the crater walls in the background.  We had been expecting a somewhat small crater, and were blown away with the size of Ngorongoro.

Ngorongoro Crater is also known as a great place to spot animals because the crater walls box the animals in. And we were able to see some very cool sightings, including the hyena, which we had previously never seen.

The illusive Hyena

Wildebeest with the crater walls in the background

Antelope

Jami and some hippos

Mufasa chilling

A lion walking between two safari vans

Warthogs and their crazy vertical tails

Animals grazing under the crater walls

As part of our safari we also stopped in Tarangire National Park. It was beautiful, but the real highlight was our close encounters with the massive elephants. Several times the huge bulls came within a few feet of the fan and it was impossible nor to be impressed with their size and majesty.

Elephants drinking at a river

A huge elephant bull passing us

Two young elephants play fighting

They are majestic animals, but not everything they do is “majestic!”

One even charged at us for a few feet when it thought we were in it’s baby’s way. When the driver panicked and immediately started the van to drive away, we knew we were in danger. He later told us that he had seen several vans crippled by elephants.

Elephant rushing at us to protect its child

The elephant watching as our van quickly pulled away

As our last African safari, it was also fun to see the small little things – like the views of the Rift Valley we had come to expect, an “Acrobatic Show,” and more opportunities for Jami to interact with small animals.

Looking over the Rift Valley

The Acrobatic Show

Jami and her birds

Much prettier than feeding American birds!