Part 2 Of Our Safari To The Ngorongoro Crater

(You can read Part 1 of this safari over here and Part 3 over here). The lodge which we stayed at on our recent safari to the Ngorongoro Crater was the 'Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge' (you can see the official website here). It was built in 1996 on the rim of the Crater and has magnificent views of the Crater itself from the bedrooms and main areas (bar, lounge, dining room etc). This was my 3rd stay at the lodge - my last stay there was at least 8 (or 9 ?!) years ago and although the lodge is a little old in places, it is still lovely and you just can't beat the views ! The photo above shows the view of the Crater from our bedroom (did anyone say "English Lake District" ?!)

The photo above shows part of one of the wooden decks which are found throughout the lodge. This is the veranda deck which leads off the main lodge lounge/bar area - I love the stone and wood 'wall' barricade at the edge of the deck - don't you ?

Below is a photo of one of the decks leading from the bedroom area of the lodge to the dining room/bar/ lounge - note the unusual ceiling with the dark 'criss cross' wooden beams. (Also note - yes, you guessed it - hubby pushing baby son in his pram to the dining room for lunch. We took the pram with us, knowing that it would come in handy at this particular lodge with all these wooden decks ! In the photo, hubby is looking slightly annoyed & had just said something like 'Come on, haven't you got enough photo's for the blog already ? I'm hungry !' to which my daughter - walking beside me - replied 'Mamma, I think I also want my own blog !')

The photo below shows another passage - this one leading down to one of the areas housing the guest bedrooms - the floors of this are coloured cement ....

The dining room is pictured below. This is where all meals were served during our stay - many of the dining tables are situated alongside huge floor to ceiling windows (to left of photo) with views out over the Crater. Fireplaces are dotted all around the dining room (it get's COLD at the Crater during the Winter months) & there is also a raised platform dining area at the back of the central area where we ate at night by candlelight - really nice.

This photo below shows the view from the dining room. I think you'd be hard pressed to find such a unique and magnificent view to gaze upon as you tucked in to a tasty meal, don't you agree ?!

More to follow on Wednesday, with photos of the room we stayed in, and the view from there, too .....

Part 1 Of Our Safari To The Ngorongoro Crater

You have to pass through the town of Karatu, above, to reach the Ngorongoro Crater/Conservation Area

I have so many photos of our recent safari to the Ngorongoro Crater - and it is just such a magnificent place - that I couldn’t possibly squeeze it all in to one or even two posts – so our recent visit there is going to be covered over 3 posts, with today’s post being ‘Part 1’. ‘Part 2’ will then publish on Monday and ‘Part 3’ will publish on Wednesday.

Then on Friday .… oooohhhh ….. well, I have something very special lined up for all you lovely people on Friday ;) which will tie in with these 3 posts on the Ngorongoro Crater - something I’ve never done on the blog before, and something which I hope you will all enjoy and be able to participate in. So, watch this space ! But in the meantime (if you can bear the suspense ! the excitement !) …. back to our recent safari ………….. the photo’s in this post show you the road’s you take to get to the Crater.

Shops along the roadside in the town of Karatu

The Ngorongoro Crater has not only been declared a ‘World Heritage Site’ (and is referred to by many as ‘The 8th Wonder Of The World”) but is also the largest Caldera in the world – basically, it was once (around 2 – 3 million years ago !) a volcano which erupted and collapsed in on itself. You could think of it as a large ‘basin’ with a dense concentration of wildlife inside it. It is around 260 square kilometers (100 square miles) in size and lies within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (‘NCA’) which totals around 8 280 square kilometers (3196 square miles) in size. That’s pretty big – Tanzania is such a vast country !

Inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the deep rust coloured earth of the narrow roads contrasts with the lush green of the surrounding vegetation

The NCA borders the Serengeti National Park (which, incidentally, was my home for some time several years ago as my husband & I both lived/worked within the Park !), and also includes the world famous archaeological site, Olduvai Gorge – which is considered to be the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ - it contains hominoid footprints dating back some 3,5 million years aswell as the earliest known specimens of early hominids ‘Paranthropus Boisei’ and the human genus ‘Homo Habilis’. (We did not visit Olduvai Gorge this time, but have in the past – and it is quite an incredible place, and well worth the visit – especially if you are en route to the Serengeti National Park).

Dense, lush vegetation surrounds you as you climb higher and higher towards the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater ....

The NCA is unique in that it allows human habitation – livestock, humans (which include some 42 000 Maasai) and protected wildlife (25 000 – including the ‘big 5’ – Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Black Rhinoceros and Buffalo) all living side-by-side. The Maasai are allowed to take their livestock in to the Crater to graze/drink water, but are not allowed to live in or cultivate crops in the Crater itself.

Situated on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge (where we stayed) is built of stone - with wooden decks and stairs connecting the main areas - and blends well into the surrounding countryside

There are several hotels, lodges and camp sites situated along the rim of the Crater where you can stay when you are visiting, and in my next post I’ll be showing you inside the lovely lodge which we stayed in during our recent safari !

Our Stay At The Lake Manyara Serena Lodge

We decided to take a break over New Year and go away to the African bush for a few nights. Er .... well, let me rephrase that sentence - I decided that if I didn't book for us to go away somewhere over New Year then hubby would never get the break which he deserves & the whole family would be stuck on the farm for New Year watching the crops grow - ha ha !

You know how difficult it is for me to tear him away from his beloved farm ("Why do you want to go away somewhere darling, when we have all this beauty around us to enjoy right here ?") - so he sat on the veranda of our room at Lake Manyara - which had views reaching as far as our farm & beyond, and would make comments like 'Oh my goodness, looks like there is rain headed for the farm this afternoon' .... to which I would just yawn and look the other way. Honestly ! Anyway, all said and done he DID manage to relax and about a day into our little trip he said he was so glad we got away (and what a good idea of his it was, didn't I think ?!)

We spent the first part of our trip at the Lake Manyara Serena Hotel. Now, we visited this hotel for lunch a little over a year ago when we were staying in the same area, and I wrote a detailed post on it over here which you really should read if you are interested, as in there are many photo's of the hotel which don't appear in this post (I never like to duplicate photo's on the blog), aswell as a little background about the hotel and it's unusual - and quite stunning - design.

The very first (top) photo shows the rooms at the hotel - each 'rondawel' (round hut) style room consisting of 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs units. We had a family room on the ground floor, and it was lovely. The rooms all have their own private verandas with views out over the Lake (although the bush in front of the rooms is quite overgrown after all the recent rain, which obscures the view quite a bit).

Anyway, the top photo is one I took 'for the blog' from directly in front of our room, past all the overgrowth (hubby and daughter refused to walk with me through all that bush - honestly !) And - for those of you who know me 'in the flesh' - yes, I really DID do it in wedge heels. Because - for those of you who know me 'in blog land' and have never seen my actual feet (!!) - I do not go anywhere without wedge heels. No, not even at home on the farm and not even in the bush. And for my darling mother - no, Mum, I did NOT trip & break my neck !! (But it's bound to happen one day !)

This photo above, is the view we had from our breakfast table, looking out on to the dining area which spills out on to the veranda. Isn't it lovely and sunny and warm looking ?

The hotel had a fantastic African themed dinner laid on for the night of the 31st, to see the New Year in. Now, as this was a family holiday I did not want the kids to miss out on anything, but I am also one of those mothers who believes that kids should be in bed at a set time, and certainly not up late at night in a hotel dining room/dinner. But I would also never leave my kids with a strange babysitter in a hotel room .... so the kids came with us .... although we didn't stay until midnight, but left for our room at 10.30 pm .... our daughter was completely hyped up (also a result of the Coke she was allowed as a 'special' treat - rocket fuel for kids !) and our son slept beside the table in his pram the entire time !

The dinner. Ooohhh - the dinner. What can I say ? Even I, an African, was blown away - so I can only imagine how all the tourists enjoyed the evening. It was held in a 'specially built open air 'boma' (structure built with grass/reed sides, traditionally used to keep livestock in at night) in the hotel grounds. On arrival we were each given a hollowed out coconut with a straw to drink the milk through by a lady dressed in tradtional African attire .... we were shown to our table underneath the stars .... decked out in traditional Maasai cloth/blankets ..... (see above).

The meal consisted of a huge array of traditional African foods ..... all served buffet style, many of the dishes were cooked over open fires in front of us. Throughout the night we were entertained by a series of African dancers (showcasing dances from the different regions of Tanzania) - all in different (authentic) tribal dress. We also had an excellent acrobatic show (acrobat shows are quite common in Tanzania in many of the city restaurants and hotels, and these guys were GOOD), live band and fire eating (don't ask !) ... all in all it was a wonderful, wonderful evening and captured the very essence of the African people. (The photo's I took of all the live entertainment really did not come out very well as it was so dark, so I decided not to put them on the blog.)

The following day was spent around the hotel pool (above) .... known as the 'Horizon View' pool due to it's edge which has been designed so as to 'merge' with the lake beyond (you can see a photo of it in the post mentioned at the beginning of this one)

The pool bar has stunning views out across the lake .... anytime is 'Kili' time ..... the photo above is of my husband's favourite Tanzanian beer 'Kilimanjaro Lager' ......

The photo below shows some of the lovely local paintings which were sold by the artists themselves in the hotel gardens, just outside the dining room.

This sign below, is one we passed each time we walked to our room - and I thought that I just HAD to take a photo of it to show all my American readers .... it says 'This Tree Was Planted By Ted Turner - Founder of CNN and CNN International'. There are trees planted by famous people throughout the lodge grounds, I think that whenever someone famous comes to stay, they ask them to plant a tree. The Serena group is quite big on conservation and the re planting of trees and have tree nurseries and projects on the go the whole time, which I think is GREAT.

So, that was the first part of our safari (a trip anywhere here - even to the city for a day's shopping - is called a 'safari') .... the second part will follow shortly .... when we headed upwards to the Ngorongoro Crater. I'll be back soon !