Given they only allow one entry per day we decided to make it a long day. A 12-hour day in fact – headed out at 6am and returned at 6pm. Shortly after leaving the lodge, had to stop the vehicle for elephant who had no intention of sharing the road with us. Interesting fact we learnt, Ngorongoro Crater is actually a caldera, a volcanic sinkhole, approximately 20km’s in diameter. The crater is densely populated with animals – large herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, Thomson Gazelles and Grant’s Gazelles. We also saw lion, hippo, hyena, warthogs, cheetah, elephant… Abundant bird life too.

Cool sightings:

• sunrise over the crater
• a zebra using a rock to scratching where it itches
• lions’ morning, afternoon and night hanging out and interacting with each other
• a pair of cheetahs on the move
• hippo pod snorting, rolling around and farting
• hyenas out and about all day
• birdlife including some of the star birds
• hyrax – a first for me (related to dassies and little brother to the elephant)

Opted to shift our schedule slightly once in the crater to avoid the crowds. Had a late picnic breakfast and a late picnic lunch. Reason for this only 2 places you can stop in the crater and get out and stretch your legs. Good news, they have bathrooms at the picnic sites!

Had popcorn and snacks along the way – felt like I was int he cinema… Around 4pm our guide (Twalib) advised us we had to traverse the crater and go to the entrance opposite our lodge to schedule a ranger for our crater hike.  As they say “hakuna matata” – no worries we would have enough time to get back and exit the crater before the gate shuts at 6pm. Twalib was right, we did it make it! On the ascent we ran into an elephant bull in musk, created a bit of panic and traffic but we managed and were home soon. Great way to end the day.

Back at the lodge we were greeted with a rock shandy on arrival and a hot bubble bath in our room. Our butler, Pascal, was awesome and looked after us with style and took incredible care of us. Over pre-dinner drinks met fellow travelers and enjoyed an intimate dinner for two.