Something about how the earth plunges steeply downward. How the wind softly whistles in your ear while the sun coquettishly warms your back, always an everlasting presence. Something about how you can’t seem to take your eyes away and yet the intensity of the vastness and the celestial atmosphere emanating from the depths forces you to turn back as if there’s a secret not meant to be shared. You can hear the sounds of cameras being clicked and voices of amazement and incredulity. Opening my mouth I find no words, a slight smile and I refocus my eyes on the Ngorongoro Crater. The Noah’s Ark of Tanzania. The largest caldera in the world that has its rim unbroken and is unfilled. There are many titles to which this world heritage site and conservation area have been called, but the most important and most alluring name is home. 600 meters up I can clearly see the green carpet that blankets the floor of about 110 square miles and the lake that acts as the main water source. No animals are to be seen except for a multitude of black dots which I assume had to be living creatures though I wouldn’t trust my eyes until I could truly see the inhabitants. Something about how the memories of Santorini—now a lifetime ago—come surging back; looking out at the deserted, sleeping town as the sun rose over the island that housed the largest volcanic eruption and created the mostly submerged caldera. Two different worlds yet the same feelings and the same euphoric acuteness that only these beautiful craters seem to bring.
As we entered and began descending into the crater who knew the views could transcend all the ones from above! There was absolutely nothing that could compare to this. Europe with the big cities, the smell of motorbike exhaust, the feel of hard pavement beneath feet, tall historic buildings looming overhead, all of that ceased to exist. Right now there was only the surprisingly redundant vegetation and my zealously wanting to see animals… which was no hard task at all. It’s said that the crater has ‘one of the densest known populations of lions’ and 25,000 large animals along with many others that live there. Besides all the animals that call Ngorongoro home, Maasai have also been living in the area for years on the outskirts of the rim. They are allowed to go into the crater to graze their cattle and would never hunt any of the animals inside, unless maybe for self defense. There really aren’t any words that can do it justice but here is a place that is its own haven, a small piece of the African wildlife and a showing of nature at its rawest, most truest point.
Entering the crater…
A mom and her baby– zebras were everywhere!
Three lions just “lion” around in the grass 😉
Lake Magadi or Makat, as the Maasai called it
Teetee and PopPop with some Maasai we met in the crater
Our panoramic view from the top!
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