Day 12 Ngorongoro Conservation Area

After 12 days on the road, Neil planned for us to have the morning off to enjoy the camp and take some time for ourselves. The birders went out birding with Chris this morning and Suzan, Jeannette, Neil and I happily spent time in the lounge after breakfast, silently working on our own devices. In my case, I am typing my blog on my phone. I really didn’t want to bring my computer on this trip because that to me feels like work. So I am less efficient typing this blog with my phone than in a keyboard but it is manageable. 

I want to tell you about our amazing camp Nyikani Migration Camp - Ndutu. This camp is situated at Ndutu Lake which is 1600 m elevation - 600 meters higher than home. We were told this camp is a migration camp that is picked up and moved to follow the animals. I thought that meant it would be simple canvas tents. Boy was I mistaken!!  We still have porches, hardwood floors, bathrooms with running water and electricity. 

The shower is a bucket shower which means you call to ask for the delivery of 20 litres of solar heated water to be put into your bucket suspended above your tent. 

The backside of our family tent shows the bucket suspended above the tent to use gravity to help with the warm shower. 

After breakfast the chef had asked us what we wanted to eat for lunch and nobody had a strong preference, so he said “pizza?”  I said perfect!!  So that was our delicious lunch!  Then we headed out in the trucks around 2 pm. 

The Maribou Stork displayed his wings wide and inflated the sack on his throat. 

I think I learned how to identify a Blacksmith Larkspur bird today!  Hooray. 

We saw a tawny eagle in the top of a tree. I have to post this picture for my Wingspan family!

We watched a leopard sleep in a tree. She clearly had killed a young wildebeest that she went through the effort of hauling up in the tree with her - to keep it safe from predators!

Can you spot the two legs dangling down?

We saw another pride of lions comfortable enough to sleep on the shores of Lake Ndutu. 

I like this little guy sleeping on his back!

We left this to spot a new animal - the cheetah. Not just one but three brothers!

What was really cool is that Cornel pointed out a hyena about 200 m beyond where the cheetahs were laying in the grass. I was able to capture that on video so that was sweet but I am not skilled enough to share video on this blog!

Cheetahs can top out at 120 km/hour. They can sustain a speed of 90 km/hour for 600 metres! They thrive living on the plains because they can run flat out without fear of injury. 

We captured some crown cranes in nice light at the end of the day. 

And then the rain came. It poured as we were heading back to camp. Cornel and Thom were kind enough to drive us right to the edge of the lounge tent so we didn’t get wet exiting the trucks. After about 20 minutes the rain died enough to walk back to our tents. 

I enjoyed a hot bucket shower with much better water pressure tonight. They did a little maintenance work on my shower to improve the water flow so it was a delightful hot shower!  I appreciated the rubber boots in my tent to walk to the dining tent for dinner. Suzan appreciated the big umbrella. 

Dinner was delicious!!  Neil was thrilled they offered cauliflower and cheese (among other things) as well as crème caramel for dessert. 

We have an early morning departure tomorrow at 7:30 am so must head to bed.