Moving Day

Monday was moving day.  We got a lazy start and made our way out of the busy little city of Moshi toward big busy city of Arusha on our way to the red dirt town of Karatu.  The landscape changes radically from the tropical looking slopes with banana trees in the Machame region to the more arid, desert looking lowlands. 

After a few hours on the road we dropped into a verdant valley where we came upon the fertile little town of Mto Waumbu (mosquito river).  We spent some time with some old friends and haggled at the local Maasai market. We even tried the red banana, which grows only here.  We were excited to find ourselves right in the middle of a great migration of storks. There were so many of them that they painted all the trees white, which was cool... until we got close enough to smell the paint they were using!

We arrived at Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge, which is situated way at the top of one of the rolling green hills in this valley of farms, which always reminds me of Ireland.  This was the first time I have used this camp and I was relieved to see it is a truly lovely place.  Each tent has a great wooden deck situated with a spectacular view.

We were up early to make our way toward the Ngorongoro Crater for a game drive in this world famous wonder of nature (google it!).   The weather on the rim of the crater was rainy and foggy but by the time we reached the crater floor, the sky had cleared.

No one in the group could resist shooting a bunch of pictures of the first few zebras we saw which was proven ridiculous after a few hours of trying to run them off the road by the dozens, just so we could pass by.

Our day in the crater was nothing short of spectacular.  We saw all four of the “big five” animals it is possible to see in the crater and many other creatures as well.  The game drive turned PG-13 when we came upon a pair of mating lions.  The excitement grew when the lions decided to take a break and walk straight at our Land Cruiser.  When they got to within 3 feet of our vehicle Mia ducked down and began to roll up her window!  The lions decided they liked the shade of our car so they plopped down with a growl for a nap!

After overnighting at the peaceful Ndutu Lodge we begin our adventure into the great Serengeti plains.  We will be in search of the elusive leopard to complete our sighting of the “big five” but the success of this experience has already been more than assured!