Day 8

We discovered that the president of Madagascar is staying in the Sopa Lodge. There was quite a fuss last night, and this morning when we met Kim at 7am, there were several official white vans as well as police. We threaded our way through them all and were allowed out through the gate. Soon we were descending into the crater. An ostrich was fanning her wings, but not at us, at a male some way off. We don't think he saw her! Then just beside her a hyena trotted by, so close to the road. A long line of buffalo were walking along the river including some very little ones. We hoped the hyena wouldn't be tempted, but Kim said that buffalo were just too much for hyena. Further on there were some gnu and then we saw a side striped jackal - a furrier version of the one we had seen in the Serengeti. Again just beside the road we saw black winged plovers, another new bird for the list, which stands at least 75! Driving and looking we saw the usual herds, the Kim pointed out a pair of mating ostrich. Much flapping and dipping of necks went on, until the male got up and went off one way, the female the other way!
We now drove into an area where there were loads of crowned cranes. Looking beautiful in the sun, some were just arriving and greeted their friends with a flapping up and down dance. On the other side of the road were two pretty bat-eared foxes.
Kim now drove down to the hippo pool, but just before we got there we saw three lions lounging by the river. At the hippo pool there were a few sleepy hippos, but loads of interesting birds. First there were white egrets in the reeds, then we saw the pelicans, heron, sacred ibis, night heron, black crake, moorhen, Egyptian geese - so much going on there. Then there was a tiny malachite kingfisher in front of us - sparkling in the sun.
Other vans were arriving and leaving all the time, they looked at the pond, but were more interested in the lions by the river. Suddenly someone shouted and we all looked up to see a lion on the back of a zebra. She brought it down and made the kill behind a large rock. The other zebra were shocked and stood staring at her and their 'friend'. We were also taken aback for that to happen right in front of us and so fast. We expected to see the lion reappear with a bloody face, but, no, she came up on to the rock and lay there. Kim tells us that after the kill, the lion will rest, not calling the others until she has fed - the others would take too much while she was still exhausted from the chase. The three by the river just played about; then suddenly we saw three more lionesses appear from nowhere. They came across to the ones by the river and two jackals came up from the side, too. Then a young male started to approach the group, very slowly. We learned that this was a young male who now gets chased away as its time for him to hunt for himself. Then two of the lionesses chased him off. Still the one making the kill was resting, the zebra gradually moved away, and so did we, leaving a chaos of vans manoeuvring behind us.
Kim had heard that there was a rhino way over the other side of the crater, but wanted to check out a group of vans not far away. This proved to be a reclining black rhino - with just the odd flicker of an ear to show where he was. We waited and did get a glimpse of his horn, but he seemed to be there for the duration, so we eventually moved off to drive down to the soda lake. On the way we saw two sleeping warthogs side by side, then we were looking at flamingos, sifting the water. Just on the shore we saw three hyena, then two more, then counted up to 22 with what could be more further off! Back to the birds - we think there was avocet along the shore in front of the flamingos as well as some other small waders too far away to see. Lunch was beginning to call, so we moved off, crossing a small stream where there was a pair of red-billed ducks - very pretty. Just further along the road there was an augur buzzard sitting on the ground. Up ahead we saw some vans racing along and Kim spotted our rhino had got up and was on the move. We got down the road and he had walked quite quickly away from his sleeping spot, but we could still see him clearly - not just a dot on the horizon. Now it really was time for lunch, so Kim drove quickly down towards the big hippo pool. On the way we passed the swamp, where there were four elephant almost covered in foliage up to there tummies.
At the pool, Kim warned us that the black kites would steal our food, so it was better to eat inside the van. We walked over to the loos, watching many black kites swooping and diving over the picnic area - getting very close to some of the visitors. There were several hippos in the pool, just surfacing now and again, not wallowing like others we've seen. Back at the van we opened our posh box from Sopa. Samosas, sarnies, apple, bananas, cheese and biccies (where was the ubiquitous boiled egg?). I dropped some crumbs and the starlings and weavers soon appeared to gobble it up. A bigger bit of bread was swooped on by a black kite - one pass and it was gone! Great entertainment! But we had to press on to leave the park at the correct time. We drove past the elephant that had come out of the swamp, because some lion had gone into the drain under the road. This created a huge traffic jam of vans leaving lunch and those arriving. But everyone wanted to see the lion if they popped out. We managed to see them, then moved out of the chaos, again! Now we were seeing the animals for the last time as we headed towards the ascending track. We came past another lake where there were pelicans, yellow-billed stork and ibis; then there was a stand of yellow barked acacia with zebra in front of them; then there was Lorai picnic area where the black faced vervets were, who steal stuff from cars left open! So we came out of the crater, signed out of Ngorongoro Park and drove down to Plantation Lodge, which is delightful. Set in beautiful gardens we have a semi detached bungalow with a veranda where I am writing this. We have walked around the garden spotting some lovely birds - a light chanting goshawk, sunbirds, lovebirds and now after our showers, the light is fading and the cicadas have begun their nightly chirruping. Soon it will be time for dinner.
Before dinner we visited the bar , which has a wide veranda overlooking a grassy area with barbecue pit and seating areas. It is a lovely evening and the beer goes down very well under the stars. Dinner was in the lovely understated dining room – plain wood tables and settings around mats. On the way in, we spotted that the inside part of the bar had a huge circle of glass set into the floor, showing off the wine cellar. Amazing!
Now its time for bed, under our mosquito nets!