The R&R Big Adventure

Endless plains

Unbelievably the Americans were still shouting at each other, shattering the tranquility of the lake at sunrise the next morning, but this time across one end of the breakfast buffet to the other. I may have muttered next to them ‘will they ever stop talking’, in an indiscreet stage whisper.

As we drove out of the lodge towards Ngorongoro, we saw even more wildlife in the grounds: this time the baby warthogs were especially cute. It was a long drive both to, and then descending into, the crater, but it was worth it. The Ngorongoro crater is a huge caldera formed millions of years ago, and whose topography– a large flat plain surrounded by a natural 700m high ‘wall’ – creates the perfect ecosystem for both grazing wild animals and the predators who feed on them. It is difficult to describe the ‘wow’ factor of seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of zebra, wildebeest and gazelle all grazing together across the vast plain. In addition to these, we saw several lions, a rare black rhino, hippos (including those basking in the ‘hippo pool’ whilst we had our picnic lunch) and the odd elephant too. A huge troop of baboons greeted us on arrival and departure from the conservation area – keenly looking at us to see if we had any food worth stealing. When you observe the behaviours of families and groups of animals together in their natural environment – mother monkey breaking up a fight between two of her children; a female zebra fighting off the advances of an unwanted male suitor; three lions slouched together having a doze – it does make you think have we really evolved that much as a species (especially as, like many of them, we can’t seem to stop fighting amongst ourselves).

R and I reflected on how lucky we were to have had another great day of game viewing as we made our way to our next overnight stop, which was a lodge just outside the crater. As we got a drink to sit in the beautiful gardens, with a view to the mountain opposite, we realized another group of – guess which nationality – were shouting loudly at one another on their table, which was probably 60ft away, but whose conversation everyone else in the peaceful garden could hear clearly.  I’m beginning to think self-awareness is not a characteristic that comes naturally to many Americans.

We were awoken at 4.30am by the sound of torrential rain, and then a large thunderstorm, which continued for some time. We have had rain at some point each day for the last five days: as I have mentioned before, this should be a dry month in this part of the world. It was still raining heavily as we left the lodge at 8.15am for our drive to the Ndutu plains, part of the Ngorongoro conservation area. Ndutu lies to the south of the Serengeti, meaning ‘endless plains’ in Swahili,  and we could see why. Once we had driven well into it, you could see miles of plain in either direction, only ending where it met the horizon. No wonder grazing animals like it here, making it easy for them to spot potential predators – at least during daylight. The rain continued to fall though, turning the main tracks into small rivers, with pot holes the size of garden ponds. It was too risky for our driver to get the 4×4 stuck in the minor tracks – we saw one tour vehicle being rescued by a tractor – so every vehicle stuck to the main routes, creating bottle necks at times. One highlight of today was seeing two male impala literally locking horns to fight for dominance. We could hear them really bashing into one another. Eventually one sloped off, defeated. The poor weather didn’t help us spot any more lions or other predators. We did though see the spectacular sight of hundreds of wildebeest, joined by dozens and dozens of zebra – cross the track in front of us. A fascinating sight to see them run across the plains en masse. As we were leaving we also saw yellow billed stork, and a cute golden jackal – like a light tan coloured fox – hunting and eating some vermin prey in the shrubs around us.

We are spending the night in a tented camp that is actually in the Serengeti. We have been told we cannot leave our tents at night as animals do prowl the grounds occasionally. Let’s hope R doesn’t choose tonight as a night to go sleep walking.