Road Trip in Tanzania - Part 4

Ngorogoro Crater Highlands Trek:

The next part of our exploration of Northern Tanzania (aka - the outragously expensive part of Tanzania) was a 4 day trek through the Crater Highlands. We started out driving from Arusha with the tour company and went through the Ngoragora Crater the afternoon of our first day. This was one of many highlights on this trip. We dropped down into this enormous crater and saw so many animals in this one beautiful and amazing place. Here is what I saw on our safari drive through the crater...

Elephant:

Ostrich:

Lions:

Hyena with pups:

Cheetah:

Zebras:

Warthog:

Wildebeast:

Then we were off to the first night of camping - on the rim of the Empakai Crater. It was surprisingly cold, but the cook made a delicious dinner starting with soup to warm us up. Then they set up the tent for us and washed all the dishes. I am getting spoiled with this style of "camping" here and I feel sorry for the folks that camp with me when I return to the states...'So who is going to put up my tent for me?'

The next morning we took a hike down to the the floor of the small crater to see the flamigos on the lake.

On the hike through the crater highlands, we were actually walking through Massai country and came across many of the Massai living in this remote area.
Below is a picture looking down on a boma, which is the area where the Massai live. At night the cattle and other animals are put into the circular enclosure for protection from the predators, such as lions and hyenas. And the Massai live in the thatched roof huts:

A Massai man with Ol Donyo Lengai volcano in the background.

Many of the women and children collect wood for cooking. Here are three young girls we passed who stopped to watch us as they were carrying their loads.

Here are two young boys taking care of the cattle.

At the end of our 4 day hike we were rewarded with a fantastic and refreshing waterfall...