Ngorongoro Crater

Today we went to the Ngorogoro conservation area. It is unique because 1) it is a giant crater, 2) it is known as the garden of eden, 3) it is to only conservation area in the world set up the way it is. Ngorongoro has three goals: to preserve the wildlife of the crater area, to protect the traditional maasai culture in the crater area, and to promote tourism (raise money). It is really cool because the conservation area is completely self sufficient and manages to allow locals and wildlife to live harmoniously in the conservation area. They use money raised from tourism to fund all of their projects in the park as well as support the local community. One thing that I was VERY surprised to learn is that they are actually paying for people to leave the conservation area because it is over populated. If people agree to leave they will pay for seeds for their crops for the first 5 years after their move as compensation. I am amazed that people are willing to move but they have already moved over 200 families. Ultimately their goal is to move almost 50,000 people out of the Ngorongoro area.

When we first got into the park we came in over the rim of the crater. It was so foggy that you couldn't see more than 10 or 15 feet away from the car. It looked like we were driving into Jurassic Park. You all are probably imagining Africa as dry grasslands and plains but there is quite a bit of forested and agriculture land. Around the rim of the crater it was very green and there were giant trees (many of them figs) covered in moss and vines. The land of the crater floor was open grasslands mostly, with a few small forested areas, some wetlands, and a large saltwater lake.

There were so many animals in the crater! Everywhere you looked there were wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles. The gazelles, especially the smaller type, are extremely well adapted. You can be staring right at one and not realize it until it moves. Often all you notice are the horns, not the actual animal. Wildebeest are quickly becoming one of my favorite animals. They are really the strangest animals. They look like creatures from "Where the Wild Things Are." Try to locate their eyes. It's nearly impossible. You know where they should be and you can see them blink but you can't really exactly find their eyes. Haha. They also make a funny noise and I love how they just run around randomly. One of the other students told me they run so much because walking and running expend equal amounts of energy for them.  I still love the zebras best I think though. They were standing in the plains, on the roads, walking with the wildebeest... just everywhere pretty much. I loved how in the afternoon they were almost all sleeping. No one in my car knew that zebras (horses) sleep standing up so they wouldn't believe that the zebras were taking an afternoon nap.

There were also jackels, warthogs, hyenas, hartebeests, elands and lions. Elands are extremely weird looking animals. As one of the other students described it, they look like someone mixed a cow and an antelope. Their heads are very small for their bodies. I didn't expect to see jackels so it was cool to see them. Hyenas are very weird animals. I already knew what they looked like but they are an animal that is just captivating. They look mostly like dogs but they're kind of built like and they move a lot like bears. Last but not least, there were the lions. I was actually not as excited about the lions as many of the other animals. Not to demean them but for the most part they are very sedentary animals so it's not as interesting to watch them for a long time. First we saw a male lion and then someone radioed about a female. We drove to find the female and watched her for a while and the male followed us to her. It was not very interesting though because the male just laid down a little way away from the female and they both just chilled there.

The whole day we had to make sure that every time we ate we did so in our cars so that they animals wouldn't attack us and/or steal our food. At the park gate the baboons will run into cars and grab food so you have to keep your doors and windows closed. Some of the students in the car next to me were getting out of the car and between one person getting out and the next a baboon ran into the car and stole a lunch container. At the hippo pool we had to eat in the car because the kites (a type of hawk-looking bird) have been known to dive down and steal people's lunches out of their hands.

Overall today was another awesome exhausting day :] Some other students are kinda over looking at animals but I love it. I could spend every day watching animals and never get bored of it I think.