Ngorongoro and Serengeti, Tanzania

February 9-11, 2019

Ngorongoro and the Serengeti were  a bit of a disappointment. They were EXTREMELY expensive and totally geared for commercial safari companies of which we saw hundreds both days we were there. The roads were dirt. Dirt roads in horrible condition. The air was thick with dust. Distant views were blocked by thick dust. Having said all that, we are glad we did it, after all it is the Serengeti. How could you go to Africa and not visit the Serengeti? We did not go into the Ngorongoro crater. Our van was not allowed. We drove the crater rim and also camped on the rim. Views into the crater were obscured by all the dust from the hundreds of safari tour trucks driving in the crater. We saw lots of animals in both parks. When we could see, the scenery was fabulous.

Entrance to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Road up to Ngorongoro Crater rim.

View into Ngorongoro Crater.

Roadside view.

Simba public campsite on Ngorongoro - our spot for the night. It did fill up later in the day.

Entrance to go down into the crater. The only way we could have gone was through a safari company. 

Zebra

Giraffe

Wildebeest - You can see how thick the dust is in the air in the Serengeti.

All the safari vehicles were parked on the other side of the rocks watching about 7 to 10 females sleep in the shade of the rock. We couldn't get near, but were rewarded with this male walking up and laying down on our side of the rock. The safari people had no idea what they missed.

The following 7 photos are of 3 to 4 females on top of the rocks keeping watch. We were watching for about 1 hour. It made our day.

Afternoon view of the Serengeti.

Early morning view of the Serengeti.

Hot air balloon in the early morning.

Marabou storks - They are the ugliest stork I have ever seen.

Lion on the hunt.

The Hippo Pool viewpoint. There were at least a couple hundred hippos lounging in the river.

Just outside of the Serengeti we saw these elephants heading for a waterhole. This view is what we had hoped to see in the park, but did not. We lucked out and did get our view, just not where it was expected.