Tanzania : Day 12 : Ngorogoro Crater to Arusha

After a magical evening on top of the Ngorogoro Crater, we left early in the morning (as you can see above ... it was a bit chilly!) and made our way on to the floor of the crater where we saw an abundance of wildlife ... our first big spot of the day was a Cheetah feeding a fair distance away from us, however, after a while, she/he got up and moved off so we had a closer look ...





We also saw a massive pride of lions including males, females and cubs ... and whilst we were driving around, our 4WD got a flat tyre which was interesting as we missed seeing the pride cross the road, but the break gave me the opportunity to get some fantastic close up shots of the zebra and wildebeest around us ...




And we got to see the lions eventually too ...




We also went to a beautiful oasis type lake in the crater where we had some group shots taken ... and we saw a pool of hippos playing around ... we saw a couple of cheetah go for a chase in the distance ... lots of dust and not much other action but a scattering of the plains wildlife at its best !! We saw more hyaena and a few other interesting birds and animals ...









It was very hot driving around in the 4WDs but after a while we were used to it and it was fun having an open top car to stand up in and get the best viewing possible ...




Around mid-morning, we headed back to camp for brekkie and to pack up the tents before we headed back to Arusha for the comfort of a nice hot shower and a flushing toilet !! Along the way, we stopped for literally 5 mins to buy some Masai blankets and in a whirlwind, one little stall owner had earned himself 32,000 Tanzanian shillings ... for no real sales pitch at all ... it was quite hilarious for him and for us !!!

In a competitive natured way, our 4WD got back to Arusha first ... but along the way, I was really impacted by an experience which I thought I would share ... at one point in the drive, we were stopped for a routine police check and whilst we were waiting for our driver to sort the paperwork out, a bunch of kids surrounded our truck and were begging for ... wait for it ... not money ... but biro pens ... I had heard that they did this but I had forgotten to bring any pens with me which was sad, because I was thrown into the dilemma of parting with the one pen that I had which caused a huge scramble and scrummage outside my door ... for one little blue biro pen?! Gosh ... the imbalance of wealth across the world really impacted me at that moment !

Anyway, we arrived back in Arusha and spent our last night having a traditional East African meal and then went to the bar for drinks of celebration and goodbye and thanks for a wonderful holiday together and an amazing African experience! Some people were going on to Zanzibar, one was going to climb Kilimanjaro but most of us were heading back to Nairobi and on to other destinations of adventure!