Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8, Ngorongoro Crater

[This is post #17 of 21 posts about our 2024 trip to Africa. To go to the first post in the series CLICK HERE.   At the end of the last post there is also a Directory with links of all 21 posts.]

After enjoying our visit at Olduvai Gorge and grabbing some lunch (previous post), we continued eastward in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) towards Ngorongoro Crater.   

Encountering people.  Unlike being in Serengeti National Park, where the only people we saw were in safari vehicles or in the camps, we encountered more and more people along the road.   There were women at the exit to Olduvai Gorge selling jewelry and multiple women and children along the road at various places selling honey. At one place we had to stop and wait for some boys to move their cattle off of the road.

Boys with their cattle on the road.  You can see the windshield wiper mark from all of the dust we had gone through.  It definitely had not been there at the beginning of the day.  Fazal kept the vehicle spotless.

Although the conservation area has many restrictions, such as no farming beyond the subsistence level, people are allowed to live within most parts of NCA.  The people living there are largely members of the Maasai Tribe.  They generally lead a pastoral life style, grazing their livestock wherever they can. 

Entering Ngorongoro Crater.  We made it to the entrance to Ngorongoro Crater near the crest of the rim at about 3.  As best I can tell, there are only three roads into or out of the crater.  There was the descent road (i.e. one way down) on the west side where we entered.  There is the ascent road to the south which we never used.  There is a two way road (although I am glad we did not encounter traffic going the other way) in the northeast near Lion's Paw Camp that we used multiple times.

GPS tracks of our travels on topo map of Ngorongoro Crater.  Khaki entering from the northwest-Day 8 (Sept. 17); Dark green in the center-Day 9 (Sept. 18); Light green along eastern rim-Day 10 (Sept. 19)

Maasai with their herd.  While Fazal went inside the office at the gate to get our tickets, we stretched our legs at the overlook.  From the overlook we could see two men with their cattle on the outer slope of the crater.  We watched them as they repositioned the herd.  

I was particularly excited to hear the bell on the lead cow.  According to multiple sources Ngorongoro is believed to be an onomatopoeic word used by the Maasai to describe the sound of the cow bell.  They named the area Ngorongoro after the echoing “ngor ngor” sound.  I would never have come up with that word to describe the sound, but if it works for them.

Two men with their cattle across from the overlook

A closer look at the two men (further up the hill to the right from the cows) revealed several interesting things.  They both wore shukas and they both carried two long objects, a wooden staff and a spear.  Both the staff and spear could be used to protect the cattle from predators and have traditionally been carried by Maasai men.  I also noticed the man on the right was checking his phone. 

Maasai men tending their herd.  They each have a wooden staff and a spear.  The man on the right looks to be checking his phone.

Descent into the crater.  Fazal was soon back with the appropriate paper work and we began our descent into the crater.

Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest unfilled caldera.  This is looking east across the caldera from the rim at the beginning of the descent road.  The alkaline Lake Magadi is in the distance on the right.  The lighter colored area on this side of the lake may be some of the mineral deposits from the lake.

What is Ngorongoro Crater and Why is it so Special?

First the Geology

• Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact, unfilled volcanic caldera.
  
• The nearly circular caldera is 2000 feet deep.  The floor covers approximately 100 square miles, 11 miles north-south and 12 miles east-west.
• The caldera formed 2-3 million years ago when the top of the volcano collapsed in on itself.  This occurred when the underlying magma chamber emptied, possibly violently, and could no longer support the top of the volcano.
• The crater floor is currently 5900 feet above sea level.  Estimates of the height of the original volcano are 14,800 to 19,000 feet.

  And the Animals.

• Ngorongoro Crater is a self-contained sanctuary constrained by the steep walls, although there is some movement of animals into and out of the crater.
  
• There are a variety of habitats including grassy savanna, patches of forest, internal lakes (one of which is alkaline), streams, swamps and freshwater springs.
• Approximately 25,000 large mammals live in Ngorongoro Crater, including leopards, endangered black rhinos, cheetahs, elephants, buffalo, baboons, hyenas and the densest known population of lions in the world.  There are also thousands of grazers such as Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelles, wildebeest, antelope, bushbuck, eland, hartebeests, kudu, and zebras.  However, animals notably absent are giraffe, impala, topi, oribi, and crocodile.
• There are over 550 species of birds.
• The high density of animals present makes the Ngorongoro Crater unique in the number of animals observable in a short period of time.

As we made our way down the descent road, there were numerous places to catch a view of the crater.

The view looking back towards the western rim part way down the descent road.

There were also long stretches where the view was obscured by trees and brush.  However, there seemed to be an unusual number of birds in the trees.  Some of the birds were similar to what we have seen near home, like the shrike.  It is different than the shrikes we have sen, but it is similar with a similarly shaped bill.

Common Fiscal Shrike

 Other birds, on the other hand, are completely different.  What is a coucal??

White-browed coucal

We continued to descend.

About halfway down the descent. Lake Magadi is dead ahead.

As we made our way down, we observed multiple trees that contained what appeared to be large globs of dried grass on the branches.

Weaver nests

 Fazal explained those were nests built by birds known as weavers. 

Weaver nests.  An entrance hole is observable in the nest on the right.

There are many types of weavers.  For example, we had seen a Speckle-fronted Weaver while eating lunch at Olduvai Gorge earlier in the day.  The nests tend to vary with species.  iNaturalist thinks these nests were built by White-browed Sparrow-Weavers.  According to wiki,

Groups of ten to sixty inverted-U-shaped nests of dry grass appear in the outside limbs of trees, although only several are used for breeding or roosting. While breeding nests have only one entrance, roosting nests have an entrance located at each of the two nest extremities. The construction of these nests shows cultural variations. Research has shown that, throughout a region, nests are located at the leeward side of a tree. This behavior preserves a greater number of intact nests for breeding and roosting.

A view of an entire tree does seem to show the nests are only on the west side, which would be away from the prevailing wind for this tree.

Weaver nests only on one side

Animals at the Bottom of the Descent Road.  We finally made it to the bottom (what the gps said was 1400 feet below our highest point on the rim), but we had to wait for a parade of guinea fowl to pass before we could proceed.

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl

We almost immediately spotted multiple animals in all directions.  

Looking back towards the rim, there were trees and other vegetation.  We spotted an elephant among the trees.

Elephant among the trees at the base of the rim.

Without moving we also spotted a Grant's Gazelle

Grant's Gazelle

and saw our first jackal.

Jackal

Turning to look towards the center of the caldera, we could see zebra

Zebra in the caldera

and buffalo.

Buffalo in the caldera

A closer look at a nearby zebra showed birds on his back.

The birds turned out to be Wattled Starlings.  Although omnivores, the starlings eat primarily insects, hence the reason for perching on the zebra's back.

Wattled Starling

All of the observations on the floor of the crater so far had been from only one location at the bottom of the descent road at the western tip of Lake Magadi.

We proceeded along the main track to the east (dashed line on the map below), entering an area with large trees.  This is the region labeled Lerai Forest on the map southwest of the lake.

Geological Map of  Ngorongoro Caldera and part of Olmoti Caldera [from Geological Highlights of East Africa's National Parks, by Roger Scoon, Penguin Random House South Africa. Kindle Edition, 2022. (p. 341)]

Lerai Forest.  The Lerai Fores region was completely different from the open plain at the center of the caldera.  It was dominated by yellow bark acacia trees, which were quite tall.  The bark had a noticeable greenish yellow color.  It turns out it is one of the very few trees where photosynthesis takes place in the bark.

A yellow bark acacia near the edge of Lerai Forest.  Note the bird (Long-crested Eagle) on the fallen limb to the far left.

In the open space near the edge of the forest next to the tree shown above was a very interesting looking bird, a Long-crested Eagle.  Fortunately he sat and posed for us.

Long-crested Eagle

This bird may look small in the picture, but he is not.  Their body length is 21-23 inches.  They have a wing span of approximately 4 feet. 

We also spotted a vulture on the top of one of the trees.

White-backed vulture

Baboons.  However, the real stars of the Lerai Forest were baboons and particularly one very little one.

The little one with the adults

In one of the thicker parts of the forest with more trees, we saw a baboon sit down at the side of the road.  An infant quickly ran in to join her.  Then another adult appeared.

The adults totally ignored the little one, who seemed to be having a great time exploring the dried grass and climbing around the adults.

 

 

  

Here is some video of the baby baboon playing and crawling around the adults while they preen. 

 

It wasn't long before the troop took off into the woods.  It almost seemed like the baby was left to fend for itself.

Baby on the ground while the troop takes off.

Not to worry.  The Baby grabbed on the back of one of the adults (mama?),

Grabbing on to catch a ride

climbed up onto her back,

Settling in for the ride

  then decided to jump to another adult.

Jumping to an adjacent adult

The troop then disappeared into the thicker foliage.

Beyond the Lake.  Working our way a bit further, now to the east of Lake Magadi, we left the thicker foliage and came out again into a more open area. 

Looking southeast over Goringop Swamp in the distance with the crater wall behind

We briefly caught sight of a lion, although we did not get much of a picture.  It was only after I saw the picture at home that I realized there was another lion lounging in the grass.

Lioness walking away plus another one in the grass on the right

There is reported to be a sizeable number of lions in the crater, resulting in the highest density of lions anywhere in the world.  The first episode of the really outstanding award-winning National Geographic documentary Queens, which came out earlier this year, features lions and hyenas in Ngorongoro Crater.  Perhaps these are some of those featured lions.

We also saw two beautiful Grey-crowned Cranes.  Not only are they beautiful, but they show up often on info about Tanzania since they are the national bird.

Grey-crowned Crane, the National Bird of Tanzania and Uganda

It was now roughly 5:15 p.m..  We quickened the pace across the crater with no more stops for pictures.  It was only after we got to the entrance/exit gate near the top of the crater on the northeast side did Fazal explain we needed to go through the exit by 6 p.m.  The gate official closes and locks the gate at 6 p.m. sharp and leaves for home.  Anyone that has not passed through the gate by then is stuck in the crater until the gates open again at 6 a.m. the following morning.   Fortunately that was not an adventure we had to deal with on this trip.  We went through the gate at about 5:30 then arrived at Lion's Paw Camp 10 minutes later.

 

We could not see the crater floor from the camp, but it was still a beautiful scene looking out over the crater through the acacia trees as the sun went down. 

Sunset at Lion's Paw Camp

It was good to relax a bit.  It had been a jam-packed day.   

Next up...much more of Ngorongoro Crater, including a sighting of the extremely rare black rhino.