We left our hotel in Arusha on Wednesday afternoon to head to Karatu, where we would stay overnight before heading to the safari in the morning. 

We traveled down a narrow, winding, dirt road to get to the base of the Ngorongoro Crater. The landscape was absolutely breathtaking, especially during sunrise. While heading down, we had to keep our eyes peeled, as an animal could be hanging in a tree or could run out into the road at any moment. We were on the lookout for leopards sleeping in the treetops, but unfortunately, we never saw any. I was able to convince our driver to stop a few times on the way down for a photo, but most of the scenic shots were taken out of a moving vehicle.

When we got to the bottom of the crater, we were all amazed at the sheer number of animals we saw.  I think I was expecting to have to spot an animal and yell out to our driver to stop, but there were animals everywhere!  It was amazing to see them all interact with one another, as you really only see these types of animals separated in cages at the zoo.  The herbivores interact peacefully since they’re not a threat to each other.  It wasn’t until two lions appeared that the other animals had their guards up!

Check out the photos and at the bottom, you'll find a list of pretty much everything we came upon. Fun stuff. 

Special thanks to Stout and Convoy of Hope for making this trip possible and for all they do to help others.

 STOUT

 Convoy of Hope

Here is a list of everything we saw (jotted down while driving and likely spelled incorrectly) and some fun facts.  If going on a safari isn’t on your bucket list, I’d highly recommend adding it!

•                      Augur buzzard
•                      Baboons 
•                      Helmeted guineafowl (bird with blue head)
•                      Cuckoo bird 
•                      Buffalo - bird sits on head because buffalo provides food for bird and bird alerts Buffalo if predators are coming/danger
•                      Red billed ox pecker (bird on buffalo)
•                      Waterbuck
•                      Zebras- stripes are unique like our finger prints
•                      Rosy breasted longclaw (orange chest bird)
•                      Warthogs 
•                      Wildebeest 
•                      Grand gazelle 
•                      Hyena
•                      Ostrich- brain is smaller than eye
•                      Hooded vulture 
•                      Egyptian goose 
•                      Lions
•                      Kori bustard
•                      Grey crowned crane 
•                      Black back jackal 
•                      African white back vulture
•                      Silver back jackal 
•                      Rhinos
•                      Eland (biggest antelope)
•                      Pelican
•                      Sacred ibis
•                      Hippos- spend all day in water but don’t eat in water (splash with tails to cool off- skin is thick but delicate in sun) can hold breath for 3-5 mins
•                      Blue heron
•                      Hartebeest- Fastest antelope
•                      Greater Flamingos - pink comes from the shrimp they eat (pink with pink beak)
•                      Lesser flamingo (white with less pink and black beak)
•                      Sand piper (brown bird)
•                      Black kite- bird that stole someone’s lunch on our safari
•                      Elephant
•                      Giraffe