Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Honeymoon - Day 7 & 8
Driving southeast, we were leaving Serengeti and entering Ngorongoro Conservation Area. According to our guide, it's not called a "park" or "national park" because it conserves it's habitats - wildlife animals and native tribes - and natural vegetation.
Apparently it usually takes 1.5 to 2 hours to get the paperwork done, so gate area is a popular spot for lunch break. The lunch boxes we've had during safari are more or less the same. It typically consists of a chicken leg, sandwich, muffin, hard boiled egg, fruits and a packaged juice.
After lunch, we went to a souvenir shop and then walked along a short trail up to the Naabi Hill. On top of the rocky hill, the Serengeti plains was clear in sight.
When the registration was finally done, we continued our journey to Ngorongoro! Our guide said the name "Ngorongoro" came from livestock grazing. The native tribes put a bell around the neck of the livestock e.g. cattle, goat, and they make "ngoro ngoro" sound when the livestock all march together. 😉
The drive up to the crater rim was around 2 hours. With the million turns and polluted air, I was eager to get out of the vehicle when we stopped at a view point.
Then, we had another short break on the rim before reaching our accommodation, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge.
Today we went down the crater to the basin. It's cloudy and windy, which made it quite cold sitting in the vehicle with the top open. I wore 2 jackets with the hood up. The weather was just perfect for sleeping and I couldn't resist the temptation - slept for 2-3 hours in total during the full day game drive 😄
In the rest of the time when I was awake, we saw lions, flamingos, zebras, wildebeest, hippos etc. Everything was feeling lazy under this weather 😴
But I know everyone was there to see black rhinos, which we didn't have any luck in Masai Mara and Serengeti.
At last, we joined the long queue of vans and 4x4s, and "saw" one from a distance. The guide was using his binoculars and Mr. Husband was using his camera. It's actually so far away that you couldn't see it with your eyes without the help of equipments. I was using my camera but I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking at...So, when I showed Mr. Husband my pictures, he said those were buffaloes 😆
Trying a few more times (like 40-50 times), I finally took a picture of the rhino...! Though I'm not sure if I could say I've seen a black rhino...🤔
The thing in the center of this picture was the black rhino we saw in Ngorongoro
The sky cleared up a bit and it got a little warmer, but it soon went back to the grey and cloudy weather. Seeing that there's little chance of seeing another rhino, Mr. Husband said we could go back to the Sopa Lodge to rest.
The safari in Ngorongoro was not as good as expected, mainly due to the weather. I thought Mr. Husband would be very disappointed not being able to see rhinos, but he was fine. This was not our last safari during our honeymoon in Africa you see 😉
