Greetings,

If you read my last update “Really Loving Africa“, you’d know that recently went on a bush plane ride into the Serengeti over the Ngorongoro crater. The Ngorongoro crater is one of the most diverse self sufficient ecosystems in the world. It’s massive and if you want to find game, this is where you’d go.

Ngorongoro crater is a conservation area and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is ~180km from Arusha and hosts an incredible diversity of wildlife. Supposedly ~25,000 large animals live there including many large predators such as lions, leopards etc… Another interesting fact is that the majority of the population is inbred due to it’s isolation, go figure.

Traditionally Maasai people tended to live in the area. Many still do to this day around the crater not living much more advanced than in the past. Mainly herding cattle, goats and doing things of that nature. A rather simple self sufficient way of life.

The Serengeti itself just goes on forever and I realize I only saw a tip of the iceberg. The wildebeest you see below is considered a spec. My friend says sometimes you see hundreds of thousands or a million in one massive migration. If you’re a wildebeest good odds for not getting eaten, if you’re a predator, great odds for finding dinner.

Both areas are home to rhinos, giraffes, lions, zebras, leopards, wild dogs and anything else you’d wish to see on safari. Safari is big business here and the Arusha airport is busy most days with people being chartered to random safari camps like the one attached in this update. Way back stopped at Lake Manyara which supposedly is the place to see 1,000,000 flamingos at a time and other things of that nature.

Africa has a lot to offer and I’ve been soaking it up. My friends are off playing squash but I figured if I didn’t add this now, it would never go up. Since a friend is getting married here, people starting to come into town, should be a most interesting affair.

I will note, having a point and shoot camera if you’re a typical guy, sucks. Since we don’t carry purses or backpacks everywhere (why would you want too) it makes you leave it at home. A smaller camera that fits in pocket with decent mega pixels and a stellar zoom is the best camera for this type of trip, I dare say.

Bush planes are really cool. Being able to fly one would be brilliant.

Regards,

P.S: Check that road zig zagging into the crater.

Random Search: bullet train from Shenzhen to Guangzhou