After summiting Kili, we came down the mountain and partied it up with the summit team: the porters, cooks and guides... everyone... Even the porter Benson, who had to leave us early with a bout of typhoid fever met us afterwards! A really great night drinking beers and playing pool under a thatched roof in the open air. The next day we moved over to the Impala Hotel to take advantage of the warm weather and poolside bar. We also set up our next trip, a safari into Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro National Conservation area.

We arranged the overnight through Congema, the outfit we used to climb Kili. We’d leave early the next day and drive through Tarangire, before camping out on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater that night, and driving down into the crater the following day before heading back into town. Tarangire is known for its thriving elephant population and massive baobob trees, while Ngorongoro is just a wildlife wonderland, offering the opportunity to see the ‘Big 5’, in a very small geographic radius. ‘The Big 5’ are the five large animals that were the most coveted by hunters, back when hunting was cool.


We were picked up in the morning by our driver and guide, Daniel; our chef, Ossman, otherwise known as Mr. Delicious (this is a self proclaimed name... we took to calling him Dr. Delicious); and then there was a tour guide apprentice named Alberto, aka, ‘The Rookie’. We took to the open road and got to Tarangire around 10:30. It was a brilliant experience touring around the park in a land cruiser with a top that pops up. Jim and I stood the entire time, cruising around the park at 60km/hr trying, unsuccessfully, to spot the different animals before Daniel. Immediately we were treated to views of a heard of eland, little gazelle like animals, and further into the park the elephants started appearing fast and furious... OK, they weren’t furious... or fast... but they were amazing. I’d been to the Great Adventure Safari a bunch growing up, but no comparison here whatsoever. These were stunning and beautiful and graceful beasts. We must have seen 10 different families throughout our drive.
During the dry season (this was not the dry season), the park swells with countless animals. In addition to the aforementioned elephants and eland, the park hosts buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe and zebras. They take part in the great migration from the southern Serengeti north the the Massai Steppe, located across the Kenyan border, and then back down again, all over the course of a year. The primary movers and shakers are the zebra and wildebeest, as they follow the wetter areas and fresh grazing grounds, they bring the predators with them... the lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyena, and probably a bunch of others I am not thinking of.


We spent maybe 4 hours driving around the park, but at 3:30 needed to make a move towards the crater. We were going to be camping on the rim above Ngorongoro, and the park gates closed at 6:00. While not too far as the bird flies, the African roads are not typically the swiftest, so we got going so as not to be shut out at the gate. The drive there was breathtaking though. Along the highway we passed by the Massai village of the most powerful and wise Massai warrior. He apparently possesses the ability to predict the future. His powers have brought him wealth, in the form of cattle, and the cattle have afforded him many wives... over 60. There was a school in the village dedicated to just his children, of which he has over 200.
The entire drive we were inside of the Great Rift Valley, which splits all of Africa in half and runs from Mozambique up to Jordan, essentially following the length of the Nile River. We pushed on through the souvenir side-road attraction towns of Mto wa Mbo (which means ‘mosquito river’... I definitely wasn’t interested in spending any time there!), and then through the dusty village of Karatu. As we got closer to Ngorongoro, we climbed up a pass that brought us to the top of a plateau. We stopped for a look at the top, and Daniel pointed out the vast Rift Valley below us. It was an amazing spectacle. We arrived at the gate at 5:30, relieved that we had a place to stay for the evening...