Ngorongoro Crater

 We had to be at the jeeps with all of our luggage by 6:00 am this morning for the drive out of the Serengeti and to the Ngorongoro Crater.  Some of the guests looked out of their tent to find an elephant munching away on the trees near their tent. Thankfully it left before they needed to be at the jeeps. We stopped first at the Maassai village. They performed a dance for us then took some of our people into their dance. After the dance the village chief explained that he was the son of the big chief. Each man may marry as many wives as he likes as long as each wife has her own house. His dad has 21 wives and so this village had 21 little houses. Each house is made of sticks, grasses and cow manure. They each have just 2 beds. One for the mama and the other for the children. Everyone in this village is from one family and there were 150 people in this village. They showed us the inside of a house, showed us how to make fire and then had us shop to help provide water for the village. Everything was what I considered overpriced but I think everyone bought something except me the tightwad. Then it was on to the crater. That was amazing. When we drove to it, the floor of the crater was so far down we couldn't see much of anything but when we were almost down came upon 2 large lions, a male and a female.  There is a large lake at the bottom with so much flat grazing land, an area of woods and of course lots and lots of animals. We were hoping to see the black rhinoceros as 23 live in the area but first saw lots of other birds and animals. More later. We found a rhinoceros but it was so far away that we couldn't get good pictures although Sarah got a picture that is good but a little fuzzy. Below are some pictures from the crater.

We watched flamingos fly in and land with a large flock of both greater and lesser flamingos. While we were watching those 2 of the many hippos started fighting. They looked like younger hippos and looked like play fighting. There were also lots of water buffalo, gazelles, zebras, and of course lots and lots of wildebeests. We had a late lunch at the picnic area and quite a few baboons were there watching but didn't bother us. After lunch we went one more time going out to look for a rhino but no luck. We climbed back out of the crater and when we got to the top there was a viewing area and from there using binoculars we were able to see another rhinoceros. Sarah got a picture of that one too but the first was better.  We made it to our new lodging and this one is really different. This one has lots of luxury such as a heated pool, hot showers, internet and a nice dining room. Each little building holds 3 hotel rooms. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. We get to stay here for 2 nights. We have just come back from supper and are ready to crash for the night. We have to be at the dining room at 6:00 am tomorrow.