Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

Day 3 - Ngorongoro Crater & Seronera Excursion

We got up early, has breakfast, packed our own lunch sandwiches, and were collected from our camp and transferred to the Ngorongoro Crater in 4x4 safari vehicles. We spent the bulk of our day exploring the crater floor in search of the animals which roam the plains. In the late afternoon, after hours of dusty ride, we arrived at our overnight luxurious camp in the Seronera region, located in the heart of the Serengeti National Park, welcomed us with dance/singing and spicy tomato juice.  The camp is surrounded by woods and abundant wildlife, so we were escorted by the staffs each time in and out of our tents (with toilet and shower inside) to the other areas.  This type of excursion has squally cost $700+ per person, while mine is bundled in the 40-day tour.  

In this evening, we had buffet style African dinner with lot of choices, and my favorite was the grilled chicken. While falling into sleep on my Lucius bed, I enjoyed the. sounds of nature.

The Crater is a perfectly intact volcanic caldera and known as the ‘Noah’s ark’ of game reserves. During our morning game drives we might view the ‘big 5’, lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo, as well as plains game peacefully grazing including zebra, gazelle, impala and wildebeest. Hippopotamus can usually be found lolling in the pools and Lake Magadi can be rimmed with the pink of greater and lesser flamingo. 

The Serengeti are also the stage for the famous wildebeest migration. On the annual migration millions of wildebeest and other game, such as zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, impala and topi move on mass between Kenya’s Masai Mara, then into Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti. This mass movement is driven by the rains, and the herds’ endless search for water and good grazing.