Africa 31: Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera. The crater, is 2,000 feet deep and its floor covers 100 square miles.

We descend down into the crater via a steep, winding road.

The crater floor is a large, flat savannah with a lake in the middle.

As mentioned in the previous post, the Maasai graze their cattle along side the wild animals down here.  

Wildebeests were abundant.  Notice the crater's wall in the background. 

This old bull wandered by in search of greener grass.

The lake's edge is the main source of water during the dry season.

These cape buffalo did not like us.  Not even a little.  But, they declined to attack our trucks.  If I had been on foot taking this shot, well, let's just say the camera would probably have survived, but not me.

Birds, like this Saddle-Billed Stork were abundant.

I had not expected to see an Ostrich.

Or as many elephants.

Zebras and wildebeests often hang out together.

Hyenas prowled the area, looking for any evidence of fresh kills.

And there was one.  Next time, lions in the crater.

Continue on to Post 32: Lions in the Crater, by clicking here.