From the Tanzanian town of Arusha, the Ngorongoro crater national park is about 120 miles by road. The roads were not that bad / bumpy when compared to the drive to Serengeti from crater. Ngorongoro Lodware gate is the entry point if driving from Arusha. There are troops of baboons that hang around the gate that have mastered the art of getting food from the vehicles stopping at the gate while validating their permits. One has to be vigilant with locking the vehicle and while getting in / out of the vehicle as they could sometimes damage photography gear / passport documents if they manage to get in the vehicle. Also the vehicles need to have an entry / exit stamp while entering the park. So if you have a one day permit and are staying inside the park then it’s best to enter towards late afternoon and that gives you a full 24 hours entering/ exiting the park - we entered late afternoon and did a game drive the next morning and then exited out of the crater national park to proceed towards Serengeti.

A lot of tourists are now visiting the park and the management is trying to restrict the visitors visiting the park. The park is very strict about the vehicles used for safari - one cannot use open vehicles that we see in Serengeti / Masai Mara for game drives here. Off-roading and night drives are not allowed within the park.

The crater and the park is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Ngorongoro name is derived from the sound of the cow bells ( ngoro ngoro). You will see some of the cows while visiting the park and they will have bells around their neck and if you listen to the bells, you can distinctly hear them making the ngoro ngoro sound :)

The crater is the highlight of the park and the ecosystem provides shelter to an abundance of wildlife in a relatively smaller area. There are black rhinos at the crater and if you are targeting the big5, you could get to see them here. Not an assured sighting, but if you are spending a full day or more, you can try. All the lodges are located at the crater rim - there are no accommodations available in the crater floor. It gets very cold at the crater - so if visiting definitely carry layers and warm clothes. At the crater floor there are park managed restrooms - they might not necessarily be easily accessible depending upon where you are at the floor. We ran into a situation of the restroom closest to us being not operational and had to drive a bit further to use one.

There is a view point in the park at the crater rim where a lot of vehicles stop. It pays to take binoculars when going to the view point -we managed to see rhinos, herds of zebras, wildebeest in the crater through our binoculars.

We stayed at the Sanctuary Crater camp for 1 night. We spent very little time at the camp - reached after sunset and checked out early morning for game drive and subsequent drive to Serengeti. The camp has ensuite bathroom and heater / electric blankets were provided. The staff were wonderful during our limited time and we will definitely recommend staying there. One of the advantages staying here was that one could drive down to the crater early in the morning before it gets crowded.

Some of the bird and mammal species we saw at the park are Grant’s gazelle, Thomson gazelle, Kori bustard ( largest flying bird in Africa), Secretary bird, Lappet-faced vulture (dominant and biggest vulture of the species seen here), Rufous-naped lark known for it’s distinctive singing, Augur buzzard, flocks of red-billed quelea (small sparrow like bird), Tawny eagle, Ostrich, Serval, lion, Black-backed jackal, baboons, elephants.

It was pretty interesting to observe the Secretary bird and see why the name makes sense for the bird. It seems their name came from the secretaries in the past that wore long knee length pants. These birds also have long black legs. They eat snakes, lizards, mice etc. Their hunting technique involves killing the prey by stomping which can be compared to the typewriting skills of secretaries in the past. We usually saw them in pairs at most places. We were fortunate to see one of them roost before sunset high up on the tree. It was pretty cool to watch the bird organize the leaves (bed) on the tree before finally lying down and disappearing from our sight. The bird went to bed just as the sun was setting.

Of all the wildlife seen I personally feel hyenas are the superstars - we saw them everywhere. They just show up wherever some activity is happening and then figure out what needs to be done. As we all know showing up is what matters a lot even in our daily life for a lot of things.

We spent only a morning game drive at the crater and were able to see a good mix of wildlife. The vegetation at the crater floor is very different from what you will find at the Serengeti - so definitely make a point to visit it once. Also photographing the animals at the crater in the morning light was very special and will recommend visiting if you are a photography enthusiast.

Watch our YouTube video on this trip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXIwnHWFSMs