Day 13 Ngorongoro Conservation Area

It rained hard in the night - so we woke up to humidity and muddy pathways. I totally appreciate that they have rubber boots in each tent to borrow. 

The rain in the night and the fact that we are at 1600 m elevation at Lake Ndutu meant we had a cool day as the sun didn’t shine!  I wore all the layers I brought - sleeveless top, long sleeve technical shirt, merino wool hoodie and my raincoat - along with a buff worn over my head and two hoods. With all the windows open and the breeze I generally was warm enough but by the end of the day I made a beeline to a fire for warmth. During the day when I sat down in the truck to get out of the wind I was comfortable enough, but a good portion of today was spent standing up with the roof elevated to view animals. 

So while cooler temperatures meant we had to dress warmer it meant the lions we watched this afternoon were more playful, interactive and they made an effort to hunt!

We had the good fortune to watch wildebeest try to cross Lake Ndutu. They started to walk across the- little babies included and once they got out deep they kind of panicked and started to jump on one another trying to get to higher ground, so they turned around and returned to our shore. 

The attempted wildebeest crossing. 

We also experienced first hand what happens when a truck gets stuck in the mud while on safari. All the other truck drivers rally around and offer support. We initially saw somebody walking alone along the muddy shores of Lake Ndutu - and we have never seen that before - we are in lion country so you stick to your vehicle. But this driver was stuck and came looking for assistance. 

Stuck vehicle pictured above. So Cornel, who was driving our vehicle was the first on scene to offer help. We tied a toe road and tried to pull him out by backing up. Then we turned around and tried pulling forward and then a third vehicle approached the scene and chained to our front bumper and we both tried to pull out the stuck vehicle. All efforts failed - so after an hour or so trying to pull the vehicle out, we departed and a tractor was radioed and came to the rescue. 

After the rescue effort, we decided to head back to the camp (we hadn’t ventured as far as we expected) so we ate our bag lunches in the dining tent and were served hot chocolate as a treat. 

We took an extra hour to relax - I went to our tent and read, then had a 30 minute nap. At 2:30 PM we loaded back into the trucks and full display of activity from a lion pride. Three mature females and maybe five young ones. They were amazing to watch playing and interacting. 

One young cub stalked a herd of wildebeest for more than an hour trying to take down an animal. And he failed. 

Cornel told us that lions need to be within 10 metres to make a successful run and kill. This young lion would need to have targeted a young one but he wasn’t quite stealthy enough.  It was amazing to see him greeted back by his Mother and siblings with warmth and I would say consolation for his failed efforts. I have a video of the reunion that is pretty adorable. 

We followed the lion pride as the adult females in the group tried to follow the wildebeest herd - but ultimately we saw active lions and no significant wildebeest chases. 

Supper was very tasty. Staff have treated us royally. I must go to my room to pack everything up for a 6:30 am departure. Now where is that Maasai warrior to escort me back to the tent!!