Safari

So last week when we got down the mountain we had some delicious Tusker beers to celebrate our ascend to Uhuru Peak. We Took a shower and I can tell you, after 8 days of barely washing and marching through the lava dust, the water that came off us was more black than anything else. After a very chilled day of resting in Arusha we went on a two day Safary last Thursday and Friday with a group of dutch signlanguage teachers, an Australian and a british girl. We started off to Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania.
We had a Land Cruiser with an expandable roof, so that you could see the animals better. We saw Baboon Monkeys, all kind of other little monkeys, some of them with blue balls, Zebras, Elephants, Flamingos, Hippos, Giraffes, Wildebeest, Dikdiks (they look like micro-deer, about the size of a poodle and extremekly cute), Thompson Antilopes, Impalas (beautiful Gazelles), Hirax (a bit like a mutant guinea pig), spotted Hyenas (very ugly and nasty looking), and some amazing birds like the Crown Krane and wild african geese.
We drove around Lake Manyara all day and took many pictures. I liked the Impalas the most, because they are extremely elegant and beautiful animals. They can run up to 56 miles per hour and are pure muscle. They fur is a warm reddish brown color and you can see every muscle under the shiny fur coat. Their horns are twisted and bow backwards over their heads. They really impressed me.
The Elephants were very cool too. They wouldn't be scared of the truck at all and we saw some really close up. One of them almost ran our car over because we were parked in his way. Supposedly Elephants follow exact trails and don't like to move away from that trail.

We stayed in a lodge close to Lake Manyara with great outdoor fire pits, cool beer and a lovely dinner. We left early the next morning to go to Ngorogoro Crater, The crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded, collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, is 610 m (2,000 ft) deep and its floor covers 260 km2. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and the enclosed crater ground is a unique habitat for many animals. A lot of them never leave the crater, because of the overflowing food and fresh water supplies.
There were a lot of fossil finds in the crater proving that various kinds of humanoids have lived in the area up to 3 million years ago.
When you look down into the crater from the rim it is a breathtaking sight. The landscape seems to be a 3D animation for a fantasy movie - absolutely stunning. You can see the other end of the crater rim form any side and the bottom is relfecting with the water of lakes and streams and you can see large herds of Wildebeest, Zebras and Buffalos walking on the plain.

We drive down into the crater and get to see some Lions feeding, a family of black Rhinos who are almost extinct, a cheetah, and buffalos. We can't really believe our luck and come back to Arusha glowing with the excitement of that experience. Ngorogoro crater is definitely one of the wonders of this world for me - fantastic!