The Ngorongoro Crater

For reference, if you are reading this, one way you can tell who is writing is by the accuracy of the spelling. If the words are spelled correctly, it is likely Lynn wrote it and if they are not, well Kent is sometimes just to much of a right brain thinker. Anyway, we reach the entrance gate of the Ngorongoro crater and our guide tells us to be sure and keep the windows shut and when we get out of the vehicle, to watch for baboons and shut the door immediately as they will want to get in and look for food or anything they can grab. Apparently someone previously thought they were cute and decided to feed the Baboons awhile ago. Ever since then, they are crazy for getting into vehicles and looking for food they might be able to find from tourists and all tourists pretty much look the same.

As we get out of the vehicle, Baboons are everywhere, chasing and fighting with each other, jumping on vehicles and basically owning the place. We watched a vehicle pull into the area with big bags of corn strapped to the top of the front part of the cab and before it is stopped the baboons (there where many) jumped on the vehicle. They ripped into the bags of corn and started eating. The vehicle had a roof that raised up for animal watching. The driver pushed the roof up and batted at them with a stick to get them off. It was quite the comical scene for us to watch. We continued our drive around the outside of the crater of about an hour to our campsite where we were greeted by Ole, the chief of one of the 124 Masai tribes. He spoke good English so we were able to communicate with him fairly well. He told us he had three wives and thirteen children (Opey, we think one of them was probably named Lena!) but was now done with wives and children. That evening some of the boys of the village did an African dance and sang which meant they love there land. Those boys can jump very high! Our tent here is a little smaller than the last but nice. We had the bucket shower but not a flush toilet however they were both in our tent. The shower was barely a trickle and we thought maybe that is how the showers were here but finally were convinced it was plugged. Kent offered to fix it and asked for wrenches, however they said no they would take care of it.