It must have been a first today – Mr and Mrs L having breakfast at 6.30am!

Picnic boxes collected by Cosmos and we were all aboard our Land Cruiser and heading off to the crater at 7.00am. We had a steep drive down to the volcanic crater which sits 600m below the rim and has a 19km diameter and covers approximately 300 square km. The crater is a vast unbroken caldera left behind when an enormous volcano collapsed 2.5 million years ago. As we got to the bottom Mr L had a very briefing sighting of a lioness before she disappeared into a wooded area.

One difference between Nduti in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro is that you cannot drive off road and have to stick to marked routes, this means you cannot get as close to the wildlife here as we did in Nduti. The binoculars were essential and Mrs L’s camera zoom was used to the max! Mrs L’s excellent little camera was put to shame by the astoundingly large cameras being used in some of the other safari vehicles – some looked almost unliftable without a crane!!

There is everything here in the crater apart from giraffe. Wildebeest and zebra have become mundane viewing for Mr and Mrs L now……. There are loads of warthog in the crater as they really only have lion as their predator. Warthogs are ugly buggers……..as Cosmos says, they are one of the ‘Ugly Five’ which include warthogs, hyenas, vultures, Marabou storks – add your own personal ugly favourite for the fifth one!

We have now seen all of the ‘Big Five’ – lion, African elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. We managed 2 sightings of the very rare black rhinoceros – and they were 2 different black rhinos. There are only about 20 in the crater having previously been hunted almost to extinction in the 1970s and 1980s. There were originally 108 in the crater in the 1960s and only 14 left in 1995 so numbers are slowly increasing. Poaching is now under control and trophy hunting long since banned (end of the 1930s). Rhino horn was wanted for dagger handles in the Arabian peninsula and ‘pep’ potions in China. The black rhino population across all of Tanzania is now under 200, having been 10,000 in the 1960s; the authorities keep their location secret apart from those in the Ngorongoro crater. The term ‘Big Five’ was a coined by hunters and refers to the 5 most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. The Big Five are not necessarily the biggest but are amongst the most dangerous animals. The hippopotamus is the second most dangerous animal in Africa after the malaria mosquito. If you get between a hippopotamus and water and/or it’s young it will kill you without fail.

There were no cheetah sightings today and the leopard we saw on our first day remains the one and only sighting – there are lots of them around but very difficult to find so we were really fortunate. We saw lion again and the male lion today was older than the male we saw in Nduti as his mane was much darker. Male lions develop their mane at around 3 years of age and it gradually darkens with maturity.

We had first sightings of a number of new animals and birds today: vervet monkey, eland, golden jackal, spotted hyena, cervocet (miniature cat that looks a cross between a leopard and a cheetah, domestic cat sized – a gorgeous looking thing), crowned cranes (national bird of Uganda), Kori bustard (world’s heaviest flying bird), oxpecker, bateleur eagle, and numerous other birds which we can’t remember what they are called (Cosmos has an amazing knowledge, we need to get a book to remind us what he told us).

We also saw the quinine tree – it’s bark is used to treat malaria, and the yellow bark acacia tree – the bark of which is used to treat yellow fever. The hundreds or even thousands of lesser flamingos on the shallow and alkaline Lake Magadi were an amazing spectacle as were the flock of ibis that swarmed and circled over the plains – hopefully the photo will do the sight justice.

A lovely evening and pleasant meal for our last night here at the Wildlife Lodge at Ngorongoro before we start the long drive back to Arusha and then fly on to Zanzibar. Mr and Mrs L have made it to 10pm tonight – an achievement, but it will be lights out very shortly!

Animals seen today: lion, baboons, elephant, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, warthog, spotted hyena, golden jackal, hartebeest, eland, Grant’s gazelle, Thomson’s gazelle, vervet monkey, black rhinoceros, black-backed jackal, hippopotamus.

Birds seen today: flamingos, ostriches, secretary bird, ibis, crowned crane, Kori bustard, oxpecker, bateleur eagle, and many more……..

Mr and Mrs L were sad to depart the Nasikia Mobile Tented Camp at 8am this morning. We have loved our 2 nights here – great hospitality from the all-male staff, our very luxurious and comfortable tent, but best of all was sitting outside by the campfire under a starlit Serengeti sky drinking beers pre-dinner and finishing off our South African red wine after dinner.

Game sighting was not so prolific during the first hour as compared to yesterday but we soon came upon our first cat sighting of the day – 2 cheetah brothers sitting on the edge of a wildebeest and zebra herd.

Cosmos told us that they were looking to kill as they had their heads up and looking around. However, they made no great effort to pursue any vulnerable prey. They are the quickest of the cats over a short distance but have no night vision, cannot climb trees and are not as strong. Their normal prey is smaller gazelle but occasionally they will take down a small (i.e. baby) wildebeest or zebra. We waited awhile and were about to leave when a third cheetah appeared – no one had any idea she was here too; she was the mother and was also looking to kill. Further waiting but to no avail, nothing was going to happen any time soon so we decided to head off to look for other game sightings. Not far away from the cheetahs we came upon 2 female lions and their cubs, some of whom were only a few months old. Lions are communal animals so will look after and suckle each other’s cubs. About 200m away from this lion group there was a lone female lion sitting in the shade under a tree. Cosmos told us that female lions will do this if they are shortly to give birth, but also if they just want to be alone, and if they already have cubs then one of the others will look after it for her.

We drove across the Serengeti savannah from Nduti heading towards Ngorongoro and saw plentiful wildebeest and zebra as always together with giraffe and various sorts of birds e.g. Love birds, vultures (including a Griffin vulture), more Marabou storks, Guinea fowl……..

We then had our second sighting of elephant, a different one from yesterday but again a lone male. Once again, Cosmos, our very knowledgeable guide, told us he estimated the elephant to be at least 40 years of age with a potential 30-40 years still to live. Although elephants are social, the male bulls tend to leave the herd when they get old and lose their teeth and their strength, probably at around 40 years old. The bull elephant will then live alone in an area where it is rich in soft vegetation which he can eat without a need for his teeth.

Lunch was a picnic on an open and safe area of the Serengeti plain, sitting in the shade of our vehicle. Once out of the park area we were on the road to Ngorongoro – a bone shaker of a ride, our African massage as Cosmos says!! Arriving at the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge mid afternoon, our residence for the next 2 nights, we were shown to our room which has an amazing view over the Ngorongoro crater.

Sadly there is no electricity or hot water until 5pm and then only until midnight – obviously a limited resource – so we will need to get iPads, phones and cameras all charged up this evening. Mrs L was hoping to be able to post her daily blogs and upload some photos but the internet costs $10 for 1 hour for 1 device only……so no…….hopefully we will have internet when we get to Zanzibar on Friday evening.

We have loads of baboons living in the trees under our window – big, small, very small and everything in between! Fascinating to watch and Mr L has been trying out his videoing skills again…….he reckons much editing will be required but as long as we have some footage that will be great. YouTube won’t know what has hit it……

It was a struggle but we made it to 9.10pm before tiredness overcame us and we turned off the light. The alarm is set for 6.00am…….

Animals seen today were: cheetahs, dikdiks, elephant, Golden jackal, giraffe, lions, reed buck, warthogs, omerus, wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, impala

Birds seen were: guinea fowl, love birds, superb starlings, vultures, black-headed heron, Marabou storks, ostrich (1 male and his 3 wives who all walk in front of him), Egyptian goose, secretary bird, and many more the names of which I don’t know!