Our last stops for this East African journey were Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara, both national conservation areas close to Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. This time, in anticipation of the fatigues after the Kili climb, we booked a lodge safari (vs. camping) and stayed in Ngorongoro Farm House, which is an extremely nice lodge resort.
Ngorongoro Crater is one of Tanzania's most visited destinations. At about 20km wide it's also one of the largest calderas in the world. There is a soda lake at the crater's base. Thanks to the permanent water and grassland on the crater floor, there is a variety of animals living in the crater wall and they don't migrate throughout the year. We were hoping that we could see leopard which we didn't get to see in Masai Mara, but in the end, these shy animals didn't show up. The game drive was less exciting than those we did in Masai Mara as I had seen most of the animals there. One animal that is more abundant here is baboon. We got to see a lot of them, strolling on the vehicle road and often in groups.
At Lake Manyara, we had hoped to see thousands of flamingos, but unfortunately it was not the right timing as most of the flamingos have already migrated away. We saw a few of them remotely and a bunch of storks. Besides, there were many hippos sleeping on the muddy lake shore. They live peacefully with the birds. We also saw many elephants, impalas, etc. Close to the end of the game drive, we saw one pair of Thomson's gazelles mating.
I think these two parks are less impressive than Masai Mara in terms of scenery and variety of animals you can see. But they are probably better conserved than Masai Mara. In Mara, safari vehicles are allowed to cut off-road, chasing after animals, while here it is prohibited, which negatively affect the animal watching experience for tourists but good for the animals and nature. I really hope people can do something to make as little disturbance or negative impact on the wild life here. But I guess as long as people are coming for safaris on these metal "animals" that is not part of the ecosystem, the real animals' life will be inevitably affected. Isn't that sad?
Ngorongoro Crater is one of Tanzania's most visited destinations. At about 20km wide it's also one of the largest calderas in the world. There is a soda lake at the crater's base. Thanks to the permanent water and grassland on the crater floor, there is a variety of animals living in the crater wall and they don't migrate throughout the year. We were hoping that we could see leopard which we didn't get to see in Masai Mara, but in the end, these shy animals didn't show up. The game drive was less exciting than those we did in Masai Mara as I had seen most of the animals there. One animal that is more abundant here is baboon. We got to see a lot of them, strolling on the vehicle road and often in groups.
At Lake Manyara, we had hoped to see thousands of flamingos, but unfortunately it was not the right timing as most of the flamingos have already migrated away. We saw a few of them remotely and a bunch of storks. Besides, there were many hippos sleeping on the muddy lake shore. They live peacefully with the birds. We also saw many elephants, impalas, etc. Close to the end of the game drive, we saw one pair of Thomson's gazelles mating.
I think these two parks are less impressive than Masai Mara in terms of scenery and variety of animals you can see. But they are probably better conserved than Masai Mara. In Mara, safari vehicles are allowed to cut off-road, chasing after animals, while here it is prohibited, which negatively affect the animal watching experience for tourists but good for the animals and nature. I really hope people can do something to make as little disturbance or negative impact on the wild life here. But I guess as long as people are coming for safaris on these metal "animals" that is not part of the ecosystem, the real animals' life will be inevitably affected. Isn't that sad?
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Acacia trees inside Ngorongoro Crater
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Crown Cranes
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Thomson's gazelles are mating and there is a bunch of audience as well
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Two male impalas
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Klipspringer
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Father and kid
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Hippos sleeping on the lake shore
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Ngorongoro Farm House Lodge Hotel
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Lodge room interior
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The Farm House grows coffee plantation and all kinds of flowers
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