Karatu, Tanzania

We were up and packed by 6:30am for breakfast, and headed into the crater by 7am. It was quite a drive to get to the bottom (almost an hour!) and looked nothing like I had envisioned. I had pictured jungles with barely enough room to drive the Land Rover, with trees all around us as in Lake Manyara NP. Instead it was mostly a big grassland plain, with occasional trees at the edges and salt pans. At first I thought we could see all the animals from the entry point. But as I found, there were little crevices and water holes where different animals hid or stayed. As well, the crater is 22km in diameter, so it's quite difficult to see animals across the entire crater.

I was disappointed near the end of the drive, because this was our last game drive and best opportunity to see a rhino, the last of the Big Five for me. But, as we were at the toilet facilities just near the exit drive from the crater, one of our guides spotted a rhino in the distance! It wasn't possible to take a picture at that distance, but still, it was a rhino!!!

Saw: Guinea fowl, Thomspon gazelle, ostrich, maribou, spotted hyena, buffalo, monkey, elephant, baboon, waterbuck, zebra, hartebeest, warthog, Grant's gazelle, blackstriped jackal, goldenbacked jackal, hippo, flamingo, cheetah, rhino

We also had stopped at a hippo pool where there were maybe 30 hippos, and got a picture of one yawning! As well, there were hundreds (maybe thousands?) of flamingos in one of the bigger salt lakes, and they were flying around in formation, turning pink or black or white depending on the angle they were flying.

We drove back to camp for lunch, packed the Land Rovers, and headed for our next campsite.

I forgot to mention, our guide had amazing eyesight, and was constantly impressing us with spotting animals. There were six tourists in the LandRover, and all we had to do was look for animals. He had to watch the road for potholes, watch the sides for overhanging acacia branches that might hit us on the roof, and look for animals. He still found most of the animals well before we did.

At this campsite (outside of Karatu), it was possible to upgrade to a lodge for $20 per person. Marissa and I did, and it was one of the nicer places we have stayed at so far, (not including the Kivu Sun!) I had a hot shower and shaved, and then caught up in my diary (I was keeping notes on paper, to be typed into my blog when I got access to the web), sitting at a nice wooden desk in the room.

I was surprised at how tanned my face was. This was the first time in six days that I'd seen myself in a mirror!