Ngorongoro Crater

The crater from above, just after sunrise, before the sun has burned off the mist.

We drive down into the crater, seeing it stretch away, filling the distance.  It's early, still cold enough for sweatshirts and the day holds promise......what will we see?

These guys showed up in the first thirty minutes.  Good start.

 The crater has the world's densest population of lions.  Lucky us!

Casually sauntering along.

 

Walked right up to and around our trucks as if we weren't even there.  

I could have leaned out and touched her.  She could have jumped up and bit me.

There was one female and two young males.

 

You can see his mane just starting to grow.

They were magnificent.  I could have watched them all day.  But they moved on and thus, so did we.

Later we saw this fully grown mating pair in the distance.  Our guide told us a mating pair will remove themselves from the pride for up to a week and have sex about every twenty minutes.  That's dedication.

Other Ngorongoro Crater sightings couldn't quite live up to our first one.  But they still gave a thrill.

Our first hyena.

This triumvirate of zebras.

An abundance of  vegetarians...

...loitering at the watering hole

We saw plenty more that day but rather than tell you about it now, 

I'm going to go look at more lion photos.

-k.


(As mentioned on previous posts, please assume for all Africa related content that if my personal photos didn't cut the mustard I may have borrowed a picture or two from one of my fellow travelers' Facebook albums.  Anyone seeking further clarification on this policy should consult with Management.)