Ngorongoro.
January 2012.
We had promised ourselves not to go there because of the organized scam that represent the entrance fees in Tanzanian parks.
But finnaly we went !
In the early morning we discover the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater.
A jungle covers the ridge around the crater.
And suddenly, a leopard passes in front of the car, and looks at us a moment before disappearing into the bushes.
The day starts well.
Going down into the crater, the vegetation changes completely.
The dense jungle gives way to beautiful acacias.
Inside the crater is a huge meadow, dotted with a few trees.
And an amazing number of animals.
Hundreds of Buffalo.
Thousands of wildebeest.
And an incredible number of zebras.
After half an hour being inside the crater we see our first lion.
A beautiful male basking in the morning sun.
This pair of ostriches present us a little dance !
A real choreography.
A little further, hyenas with swollen bellies seem to have abused of good things during the night.
A beautiful lioness hides herself at the approach of a herd of zebra,
but they pass too far and the attack will not occur.
We are not alone in the crater, but it's big enough not to be bothered.
We see many animals although there are proportionately very few gazelles compared to other parks.
A group of hippos takes the sun on the banks of the only freshwater lake of the crater.
There are countless numbers of birds: great cranes and storks, which may be on vacation until they go back to Alsace !
And the highlight of the show, we see a lion attack !
A zebra with a broken leg is stalked by a lion out of breath.
This poor lion is lean to scare, but he manages, with difficulty, to catch and kill its victim.
Incredible Africa !!!!
But life always has the upper hand.
We witness the first steps of this baby wildebeest still wet, and a bunch of baby zebras gallop in the meadows.
By late afternoon, we see our tenth lion. In a single day, we saw more lions than we've seen so far, after four months in Africa !
Oddly, elephants and rhinos are more difficult to observe and we will see them only from afar.
This is the first time we see the Big Five (elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion) in one day !
On our way to Kenya, we pass close to Mount Meru.
We bivouac in the middle of the Maasai plains, with a superb view over the "Socialist Peak" !
