Driving from Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater

Finding the mysterious shifting sands, exploring the cradle of mankind, and ending at the most unbelievable location for a New Years Eve we will never forget.

   This was all done as we shifted our focus and location from the vast plains of the Serengeti to the collapsed volcanic crater known as Ngorongoro. Again it was tough to leave the people behind at our remote tent camp in the Serengeti. But there was more of Tanzania that I wanted the Dillons to see so off we went.

Magnetic sand

The enigmatic shifting sands

  There were two choices for our travel between the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. We could fly into the Lake Manyara airstrip and take an hour and half drive on good roads to get to our lodge, or we could do an all day drive heading out of the southeastern Serengeti, and hitting up shifting sands and the Olduvai (Oldupai) gorge on our way to the Crater. Mary thought the family would be inspired by seeing where the Leakey's discovered the origins of mankind so all day adventure drive it is!

Rolling down the dune

Shifting sands

  We enjoyed being able to see more herds of zebras and gazelles with a few jackals and hyena among them as we traveled to the border where Serengeti National Park meets up with Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. This drive can be a bit bumpy with a washboard road effect but for the first part of the drive our expert drivers kept us off the main road for a much smoother ride. We dodged dung beetles and eventually pulled up next to a very out of place looking black sand dune in the middle of the plains.

Dillon Family Portrait

 This is known as shifting sands. It is a rare phenomena known scientifically as a barkan. Fine ash from a volcanic erosion of nearby Ol Doinyo Lengai (Mountain of God), deposited this highly magnetic dust which the unidirectional wind blows into a crescent shaped dune. The entire dune moves about 10 meters a year but always stays together and maintains the same shape. Researchers have placed posts marking where the dune has traveled from year to year.
 

Oludvai Gorge

  The next stop was only fifteen minutes farther down the road at a world renowned archaeological site called Olduvai Gorge. This is the spot where Louis and Mary Leakey made many of their famous finds of early humanoid fossils. These finds challenged and eventually changed the way the world viewed where humans originated from. Homo habilis resided in this steep ravine about 1.9 million years ago and is probably the first early human species. The name "Olduvai" gorge is actually a misspelling of the local Masai word 'oldupai' which is what they call the wild sisal plant that grows in the gorge.

 **Added 1/13/18: Wonderful Article on What Science Knows about early Humans

View from the crater rim

After a picnic lunch, a walk through the Olduvai museum, and a lecture about the gorge, we continued on the bumpy road (aka 'African massage') to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Ngorongoro Crater. The view of the rain swept crater floor was our first glimpse as we traveled 7,500ft high up on the rim road. We passed from the dry lower elevation plains, filled with Maasai villages and dust, to an upland area that looked like the moors of Scotland. We all agreed that the Maasai living in the villages here may be cold but had a much prettier location.

As the rain turned into hail we pulled into our most beautiful lodge yet, the famous Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. The camp managers Irene and Ash were out to meet us with umbrellas and escorted us inside to the main lodge area. The group took some time to sip their welcome drink and take in the furnishing of this amazing place that Travel and Leisure listed as #65 this year on the 100 best lodges in the world!

Bath tub focal point

   The experience of this lodge has been described as 'where Versailles meets Maasai', and with one look out of your window you are transported to an incredible view right down into the wildlife filled crater. We had the afternoon to explore, rest, and relax before the new years eve festivities.

Lodge view

  And if everyone thought the lodge was going to be the biggest surprise of the day, they were really shocked later once the evening began. We had gathered on the lawn, overlooking the crater for drinks until a line of 100 Maasai warriors chanting and holding torches put on the show of a lifetime. It will be a hard new years eve to top. One that also included about 10,000 rose petals on and around our dinner table after the dancing had ended.

Entrance to the rooms

 Here is to a wonderful 2017 and an exciting start to 2018.