Africa 2017

Africa 2017

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Africa Bound ~ Part 3



Let me just say, the boys have written twice.  Short, sweet but not a lot to go on.  Really.  Oh and did I mention my duties while they are away have left me t-i-r-e-d.  Today I have some renewed energy (I have no idea why with staying up late and rising before the break of day ~ thanks Tucker and the birds outside our window).

Let's back track in days and go where I left off.  

June 21

Still at the Ngorongoro Crater.  Here is what Tim wrote to me:

"Just got back from the crater.  Spent all day from 7 - 5.  Saw much including exciting lion meal of wildebeest.  Great film & photos of all the hyenas, jackals, eagle.  All got fed right in front of us.  Weather is overcast, drizzle, cool.  Glad to have our jackets!  Now we can see this lodge in the light, but no view.  Tomorrow a long drive to Mbalageti.  Wish you could have witnessed all today.
Tim & Ryan"

Itinerary says about this:  

Enjoy a full day of game viewing at the Ngorongoro crater. The Ngorongoro Crater is often called ‘Africa’s Eden’ and the ‘8th Natural Wonder of the World,’ a visit to the crater is a main drawcard for tourists coming to Tanzania and a definite world-class attraction. Within the crater rim, large herds of zebra and wildebeest graze nearby while sleeping lions laze in the sun. At dawn, the endangered black rhino returns to the thick cover of the crater forests after grazing on dew-laden grass in the morning mist. Just outside the crater’s ridge, tall Maasai herd their cattle and goats over green pastures through the highland slopes, living alongside the wildlife as they have for centuries.



On June 22 ~ to June 24 they moved and stayed at Mbalageti Serengeti where they will be in tents camping, this is near the Serengeti National Park.  Here is what the itinerary says:

This truly magical place is home to Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys discovered the hominoid remains of a 1.8 million year old skeleton of Australopithecus boisei, one of the distinct links of the human evolutionary chain. In a small canyon just north of the crater, the Leakeys and their team of international archaeologists unearthed the ruins of at least three distinct hominoid species, and also came upon a complete series of hominoid footprints estimated to be over 3.7 million years old. Evacuated fossils show that the area is one of the oldest sites of hominoid habitation in the world.

Enjoy two full days of morning and afternoon game viewings. The sound of their thundering hooves, raising massive clouds of thick red dust, has become one of the legends of the Serengeti plains. The entire ecosystem thrives from the annual migration, from the lions and birds of prey that gorge themselves on the weak and the faltering to the gamut of hungry crocodiles that lie in patient wait at each river crossing for their annual feed. Large prides of lions laze easily in the long grasses, plentiful families of elephants feed on acacia bark and trump to each other across the plains, and giraffes, gazelles, monkeys, eland, and the whole range of African wildlife is in awe-inspiring numbers

Just for fun ...remember the movie "The Bucket List"...here is the clip from Africa...enjoy! 

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