Easter Weekend in Ngorongoro

True to my promise that the next blog would contain a bit more than dressed-up accounts of swimming (and drinking) with the neighbours, we’ve just been off exploring again. To be honest, we were feeling a bit stir crazy having spent a solid two months in Dar and it was high time to get out and about again. This five-day weekend, resulting from Maulid and Easter was the perfect time to get back on our travels. Soma keeps reminding me not to make my postings read like a travel guide so I’ve made sure I’ve included plenty about us- largely centred on Rohan’s digestive issues, but hey that’s small kids for you!

Friday morning found us at the domestic terminal of Dar es Salaam Airport- a real throwback to the old days of flying. We passed through a security check and headed to the Coastal Aviation area. After getting our name ticked on the list we waited till the pilot came for us. Before long we were in the plane - a small 14-seater headed for Manyara via Arusha. As the flight was full, the copilot seat was up for grabs. Amazingly, Kieran hesitated at the chance to spend an hour in the best viewing seat on the plane. After umming and ahing for a while, the decision was made for him by his eager father, who clambered shamelessly over fellow passengers to that coveted seat (sorry Kieran- you snooze you lose! He did later explain that he decided not to take the co pilot seat because he thought he might have to help fly the plane- ah!).

After a couple of hours’ flying and one short refuel at Arusha (with time for Soma to visit the facilities- the first of many such inconvenient stops made to maintain the weak bladdered nature of the standard Chubb spouse), we finally came into land at a remote, sloping airstrip on the top of a hill overlooking Lake Manyara.

Arrival at Lake Manyara Airstrip

As with Mikumi, Lake Manyara is one of Tanzania’s more underrated parks. It is one of the smallest but is also one of the most spectacular. Basically, after leaving the airstrip, which is located more or less at the highest point in the area, you head down a steep incline into a very flat plain- part of the Western escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. The park is centred around a rather large lake, which is famous for very high concentrations of flamingos. Manyara has the highest levels of biomass (sum total of flora and fauna per square metre) in the whole of Africa and has been a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve for almost thirty years.

The downside to this became apparent quite quickly- although the scenery was magnificent, finding any large animals before we got to the lake was going to be tough. In fact we did come across some- a few elephants mainly. However the lack of large spectacular animals was more than made up for by a large variety of baboons and vervet monkeys living out their lives in the dense forest, totally unfazed by our close presence. After almost an hour driving through the forest, we came out onto the lakeside plain and were greeted by a tour brochure scene- mountains in the distance, Lake Manyara and its thick pink lining of flamingos in the background, a small green African plain with a variety of elephants, giraffes and other animals in the immediate foreground- the type of image you might see on a local tingatinga painting but which surely could not exist really right?

Picture of baboons taken in Lake Manyara National Park- just a few of the hundreds we saw there!

Sadly for us (but I guess not for the flamingos) we were not allowed too close to the lake. However, we were happy to look out over it and to take in the view- I tried to take a few pictures but none really did it justice.

Lake Manyara National Park

By late afternoon, however, time was pressing and we headed out of the park towards our main objective- Ngorongoro Crater.

Unlike Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater is neither underrated nor suffering from lack of fame- apart from the Serengeti, it must be the most famous and most visited of Tanzania’s natural attractions. This place was most definitely on our “to do” list in Tanzania and we were all full of anticipation as we drove towards it. After a drive of about an hour or so we reached the crater entrance. While we waited for the entrance fees to be paid, we got a feel for the temperature. We noticed that it seemed to be wet and muddy and there seemed to be quite a lot of mist (although at the altitude we were at, it could just have easily been the clouds!) We very quickly realised though that everything we’d been told about the north was true- for the first time in many months (probably since Amsterdam last year in fact) we actually felt cold. This might seem unexciting to anyone reading this from the UK but when you’ve just gone through two successive African summers (one in each hemisphere), the chance to feel cold without cranking up the AC is a rare treat! Kieran stuck his bare chest out of the window as we drove up the crater side- decency stopped me and Soma doing the same!

After a further half hour of winding steep roads (a bit like the Alps except with more elephant dung in the road), we reached the crater rim.

Ngorongoro Crater- picture taken at dusk from the Sopa Lodge on the crater rim

A further half hour along the crater rim brought us to our hotel- the Sopa Lodge. The lodge itself was very well set up and worth every one of the many pennies spent on it (thinking about it is still painful in fact!) To ensure a good night’s sleep, we’d booked two rooms- one for Kieran and myself, another for Soma and Rohan. By the end of our short holiday, I’d yet again seen through the tinted spectacles that come with fatherhood and remembered that sleeping with Kieran means less paternal bonding and rather a lot of kicks and knees to the head in the middle of the night!

Before going much further, it would make sense to give an idea of exactly what Nogorongoro Crater is. Basically, a few million years ago, Ngorongoro was a huge (very huge) volcano, sitting on a massive reservoir of lava. One day, this huge volcano erupts and discharges the entire reservoir of lava upon which it was sitting. Nature abhorring a vacuum, the volcano then collapsed, leaving behind this rather large crater. With a diameter of 19km, this is the largest unbroken caldera known to man. The crater floor is home to one large lake and a lot of animals (although no giraffes as they are apparently unable to get in).

We woke up Saturday morning bright and early (5.45am to be precise) and, packed breakfasts and semi awake offspring in hand, headed out for a head start on the crater. We got onto the crater floor within half an hour and were lucky enough to see the whole area both light up and wake up. This was a very different experience to Mikumi, but certainly no worse. The backdrop of the crater wall was always breathtaking- the crater has its own weather system as evidenced by the clouds forming below the rim. Although you did not always get as close to the animals as we did in Mikumi, we saw animals on a far larger scale- not ten or twenty wildebeest but thousands!

A Herd of Wildebeest in Ngorongoro Crater

We spent almost seven hours driving and saw so many things. Soma still gets dewy about the zebras but added the flamingos surrounding the lake to her favourites. Rohan seems to like the Water Buffalo most, although he insists on calling them “cow”.

Rohan playing in the car

Kieran was most taken with a couple of lions we saw resting a few metres from the roadside. As for me, what to add? We managed to see a couple of very rare Black Rhinoceros- two of only ten estimated to exist in Ngorongoro. I think that I was most taken with a very large elephant we saw almost within touching distance single handedly destroying and eating an acacia tree. Anyone in the slightest bit horticultural will know that these trees have very tough, spiky thorns. The way this elephant was munching away on them as if they were no spikier than noodles was simply amazing!

Elephant eating some seriously spikey acacia

Writing this posting, I realise that much of what I’m saying is very similar to what I wrote about Mikumi. In short we went to a national park, drove around and saw some animals busily being animal-like. True, but that just doesn’t do the experience justice. For much of the time, I was standing up, head out of the opened roof, taking in the amazing scenery. To see an African plain is impressive enough. When it is surrounded by a massive crater rim- almost like some natural stadium- then it becomes even more impressive. When a herd of wildebeest comes galloping past, it really is just the icing on the cake!

After about seven hours on the crater floor, we drove back up to the rim and back to the hotel. After lunch and a nap, Kieran was keen on the outside pool.

Kieran showing just how far from London he now is! (4,419km precisely!)

A quick toe- dip later he was less enthused so we headed inside for some internetting (okay so we don’t have to be David Attenborough the whole time!). Late afternoon, Rohan’s previously grumpy mood took a turn for the worst and we realised that he was well and truly constipated. I have to say, Rohan at his worst challenges that supposedly inviolate parent- child relationship that says you’re not supposed to want to deep fry your kids. However, when, as was obvious now, he was in a lot of pain it was a miserable sight to see. He was doubled over, holding the walls- just like Soma was when she was trying to push him out a couple of years back in fact. Despite the feeding of thousands of raisins (just as good as prunes I hear), hot compresses and even massage from his mum, Rohan was truly hosting the immovable object. In the end, with the little chap’s typical sense of timing the immovable object moved in some force the moment we boarded the plane home!

We’re back in Dar now, and I must say the plane rides home were lots of fun. I’ve now flown on a number of flights using small aircraft (both on safari and to Songo Songo Island for work) and it really is an entirely different experience from commercial scheduled flights. It does take longer and there is no catering or refreshments (only 14 seats so no room for even the most anorexic stewardess). However, I’d challenge any airline to try to recreate the fantastic experience we all had when taking off on the journey home from Manyara today. Lift off from a grassy runway which then vanished as we headed over a cliff and off over the northern Tanzanian plain! That, my dear, is flying!

We’re back, we’re tired but we’re glad to have got travelling again and to have seen just a bit more of our host country. Kieran especially is learning more about Africa and its animals each time we do this and seems to love flying. The fact that on this occasion Rohan quite literally couldn’t give the proverbial did not detract from things one little bit!