Day 10: NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA - ARUSHA
Monday, November 8, 2010
Today is the last day of safari in africa, this on the one hand gives us pity, but on the other it encourages us, since tomorrow we leave for Zanzibar, another of the great pearls of the trip, but first we have one of the most complete morning with a safari in the Ngorongoro crater.
We have breakfast at the Lodge and without much haste, we go to the entrance of the Ngorongoro crater, where we expect the 4 × 4 with which we will make the safari today.
They tell us to make groups of 4 or 5 people and we are placing in each 4 × 4, a new experience on this trip since until now all the safaris had been by truck.
On the way to Ngorongoro crater We make a piece of the road yesterday to the lodge where we stayed.
We adapt to the 4 × 4 and although we like the truck better, the experience for a few hours is very good.
With the 4 × 4 we have less ease of movement and according to which animals they look better from the height of the truck.
We go down the access road to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and begin to get an idea of what awaits us.
We go like children with new shoes. Is our last safari in africa and we have many expectations set on this day.
We make a first stop at the entrance, to go to the bathroom and after 15 minutes we set off.
Every time we want to stop, we can notify the driver and stop us without problems.
Once we have seen the landscape, the animal or whatever, we will let you know again and get back on track.
As we move forward we look at each other, we only see some zebra from time to time and some wildebeest, nothing more.
We all have in mind that the Ngorongoro crater It is a kind of Noah's Ark and we do not see too much fauna, something that has us a little baffled.
The landscape is spectacular, but we don't see more animals than us.
Ngorongoro Crater
We begin to cheer up when we see the first jackals, which we had not seen in the whole trip. This starts to cheer up.
We stop next to a small "pond", where from afar, we see some hippos.
Ngorongoro Crater
We are lucky to see closely a herd of wildebeest and zebras that run across the road.
Ngorongoro Crater
It is the closest thing to migration we will see, so we get to work with the cameras.
Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania
We have a few hours of safari in the Ngorongoro and we stop to snack, right next to a lake.
Ngorongoro Crater
There we see huge birds that warn us that they dive, to remove food from their hands.
Ngorongoro Crater
There we are half an hour, where we rest and stretch our legs a little before returning to 4 × 4 in the hope of seeing some more animals before we go and said and done: after all, we see on the side of the road A lion and a lioness, full of mud.
They are less than a meter of 4 × 4 and we go crazy.
Ngorongoro Crater
We have not had any lion so close throughout the trip.
From the 4 × 4 we have them closer than from the truck, which with the height, seems to be a little further.
The lion is looking for the shadow among the 4 × 4 that are approaching, so we have the great luck to take really spectacular snapshots.
But the best thing is the feeling we get from having seen that wonder so close.
In a moment we see that it begins to approach our 4 × 4, the boys have the right time to put the cameras and close the windows with the half-broken face. It has happened to a few centimeters.
Ngorongoro Crater
After this, they decide that it is time to start leaving the Ngorongoro Park, since we have a permit of only 24 hours, but it counts since we entered the conservation area (which was yesterday after lunch).
So it's time to say goodbye to the last safari of our trip to Kenya and Tanzania.
We go up the exit path, turning, so that the image always remains in our memories.
The image of Ngorongoro crater It is spectacular.
Upon reaching the top, we stop again, to take some more photos, from a good perspective. We say goodbye to the African safaris.
Ngorongoro Crater
They tell us that we have about 30 minutes of road, until we reach a town, where we will eat in a kind of restaurant and the truck waits for us, to take us to Arusha.
When we arrive we have the food prepared, but today we do not eat outdoors, as we are used to, they let us use the restaurant, where we consume drinks.
There we rest for a while and get back on track, heading for Arusha.
The journey is not very long, since we are always immersed in the africa landscape .
We see the first and last baobabs of the trip and we are left with the desire to get off to see them more closely. We will have to leave it for another occasion, because it is very clear that we will return to Africa.
We pass by the entrance of Lake Manyara, which we see from afar and we look forward to having had another day to visit. It's a shame to be so close to something and not be able to see it.
About 7 we arrive at the entrance of Arusha. The guide explains a bit about the city and we see that it only has 2 paved streets.
What a difference to the cities to which we are accustomed in Spain.
Once inside the city, the traffic becomes a bit denser and we can take advantage of observing more closely the details of people, shops ...
It takes us less than an hour to cross the city and arrive at our hotel, which is just outside Arusha.
Once there, some take advantage of the pool and others are going to take a shower before dinner at the hotel restaurant.
The rooms are pretty good and clean. The truth is that at this point, in order to rest, we are worth anything.
Today we are rendered, so after dinner, we are chatting for a while and decide how much tip we will give to the staff that has accompanied us throughout the trip.
Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to them.
We go to bed with the feeling that tonight a part of the trip to africa, but the next one begins ...
Day 11ARUSHA - ZANZIBAR (KIZIMKAZI BEACH)
