Heading away from Temba Camp we encounter many zebras and wildebeest, but the morning’s highlight was a lioness on a zebra kill.  It reminded us that we noticed a zebra with a broken leg limping along yesterday in a different area, and thought at the time that he was not long for this world.  The great circle of life is very evident, and perfectly predictable, here.

On to Ngorongoro Crater, a caldera formed by an ancient collapsed volcano.  It is almost like a Lost World down on the floor of the caldera, a 12-mile-diameter circle with essentially a self-contained microcosm of most of the same animals we have seen in the Serengeti.  They stay here year round, not forced to migrate because there is a permanent water source, predator and prey in perfect balance.  No permanent human presence is allowed here; the local Maasai can drive their cattle down a separate track for water but must return to the crater rim as soon as that’s done. 

We descend via a steep dirt track to the floor and crisscross it in several directions, seeing many wildebeest, zebras, ostrich, jackals, dangerous-as-ever-looking hyenas, our favorite bird the crested crane again, seemingly thousands of flamingoes, Thompson gazelles, and yes, the final member of the Big 5 we’ve not seen before:  the black rhino (four of them in fact, rather far from the track as they are very shy).  Our picnic lunch location is by a pool filled with hippos, but we have to eat inside the jeeps due to the constant aerial assault by local birds after our food.  Even more brazen (and way larger) than those little yellow weaver birds at our Oldupai lunch stop, they have been known to dive on food in a person’s hand and take off a piece of finger along with the sandwich.  On the way out, we see the black rhinos again, and then another first as we start the steep drive back up, a serval (small member of the cat family).

Our work here done, we drive back to the Tloma Lodge for a couple of nights in pretty luxurious surroundings to wind down from the continual state of alert in which we’ve spent the last five days.  This time we are all settled in separate spacious bungalows, nestled within the separate terrace levels of the compound.  Laundry hour ensues (this place will do your laundry, but at the rate of $2-3 each for a pair of socks or underwear, we choose to continue the hand wash until we reach the washing machine in our apartment in Sicily!).  This place is not cheap; internet is available in a separate bungalow at the rate of $5 for a very ponderous satellite connection.  We manage to check emails and bank accounts quickly but have to defer any large scale browsing or posting to our trip blog.

The Lodge has a huge deck overlooking the gardens and terraces, and our group gathers there for the cocktail hour including the special local mixed drink, which consists of gin and a variety of ingredients in a margarita glass with the rim coated with brown sugar.  We tried it on the previous stay, and were not impressed enough to order it again.  However, many of our group did, and the improved weather had brought out little honey bees who loved the concoction, brown sugar, gin and all.  We were under siege again.  Another OAT group is at the Lodge tonight, starting their Serengeti trek tomorrow.  We enjoy telling them what a wonderful experience they are about to have, just like a departing group told us when we passed through here the first time.  Come to think of it, it’s probably hard not to have a great experience, but we still feel so very fortunate.  Our travel companions have, for the most part, been very easy to get along with, and our guides have been personable, capable, and extremely knowledgeable.