The Crater

On my last day, we left the Serengeti with a fun view of the striped mongoose.  A mother lion, tagged with a radio collar, strutted for us in clear view.  I will miss the close interaction with animals, watching them in their natural habitat.

Striped Mongoose.

Which one of you is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi ?

One of my favorite photos.

"Hey buddy, can I rest here a while?"

We saw a male baboon and he was not shy about playing with himself.  That got a few giggles out of the tourists.  Even funnier was when he got tired of playing with himself, he walked over to his buddy and grabbed the buddy's baboon-hood and gave it a yank.  We all found this was hilarious.  I guess playing with yourself evolved along with opposable thumbs.

They don't show this on Discovery Channel!

I was sad to say goodbye to the Serengeti.  We had one last stop to make on our adventure and that was the Ngorongoro Crater.  The crater was created from a volcanic eruption and it is 19 kilometers across and 400 meters high.  Inside the crater are lush grasses, swamps and lakes that attract many animals.  We spent the entire day on a game drive within the walls of the crater.

A good jump shot that shows the volcanic rock of the Ngorongoro Crater.

Greg does the Ngorongoro pose.

A view of the view from the bottom of the crater during Safari rush-hour.

Our accommodation was perched on the edge of the crater.  At the end of the day, Greg and I sat in our room overlooking the crater, soaking in the stunning scenery and reminiscing about our amazing African adventure. 

View of Ngorongoro from our suite.
 Greg had a Kilimanjaro beer, and I had red wine in a plastic cup.

Thinking back, I was petrified of Africa and thought it would take me years to be brave enough to travel to this continent.  Now that I look back - I realize that I was silly to feel scared.  What a wonderful place!

Greg and I left the crater and the Serengeti behind us, and started our trek home by driving to Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is 300 kilometers from the Serengeti.  Due to our flight leaving at 3:30 am, we did not have a chance to hike the famous Mt. Kili.  I did get some amazing photos at sunset.   We snuck onto the roof of a hotel for the photo opp.  The hotel security guard finally found us, I thought for sure we were going to get arrested.  Instead he approached us and said:  "Beautiful, isn't it!  Where are you from?".  The people are so nice in Africa!

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

One of many gorgeous African sunsets.

I must return and hike Kili someday.  Toto may be redeemed if I discover when I am at the top of Kilimanjaro, that you in fact can see the Serengeti.   

 I will let you be the judge.   Take a close look at my photos of Kili.  Do you see snow?  Think of this next Christmas when Band Aid is singing:  "And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas…"