About halfway along our trip through Africa, we enjoyed the longest break from travel on the whole trip – three non riding days based in Arusha, Tanzania.
I say based because Arusha is the main jumping off point for trips into the Serengeti, a massive plain to the west that is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. I can’t tell you when I first heard of the place, but it was so long ago that as far as I can tell, the Serengeti, or at least its legend, has been in my mind forever.
What I didn’t know anything about was the Ngorongoro crater, the remains of the aforementioned volcano. No longer active, the crater is about 20kms across, and deep enough that from the rim, you can look down on the clouds inside. There are watering holes and grasslands across its floor, and every single one of the safari “Big Five” can be found inside. The walls of the crater are so steep and so high that animals rarely enter or leaving, turning the Ngorongoro into a sort of fishbowl.
On my trip back to Arusha, after visiting the Serengeti, we spent one night camping on the rim of the crater. The next morning we drove down into the crater as soon as the gates opened, to explore.
The night before, hot sunny skies gave way to a storm rolling in from the east. Dark clouds filled the sky and we sat outside to watch the weather move towards us. To our backs was surely a stunning sunset, but the closest I came to noticing it was the red light that shone across the clouds to the east.
The image is one that I love for the depth of colours. The green grass and brightly coloured tents set against the dark clouds bathed in light from the setting sun, are as vibrant as the life in the crater itself. It’s a nice reminder that really, humans aren’t much when compared to the power of nature.
The next morning, as clouds cleared, we waited outside the gates down into the crater. Winds cleared the rim of the crater, but clouds down inside stayed relatively unmoved, and we headed down into the cold of the crater floor.
Over the next few hours, we spotted countless animals including cheetah, hyena, a pride of lions lazily stalking a wildebeest that had become separated from the herd, plenty of antelope, and elephants making their way out of the mist.
By mid day the sun had burned off most of the cloud and we headed back for Arusha.
Of course, I shouldn’t be so rude as to skip over the Serengeti. Truly, a remarkable place, I spent a night in a tent, listening to the roars of lions, and awoke to a day of spotting zebra, giraffe, lions, hippos, storks, elephants and even a rare leopard.
It’s not to downplay the magnificence of the Serengeti – it really was stunning, and I can only imagine what it would be like during the Great Migration – but the crater is not to be missed. If you don’t get to see a storm move in, I’m sure you’ll get a stunning sunset. I don’t think they come any other way in Africa.
