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The presence of several large crocodile explained their reticence, but a small group of zebra grew impatient and splashed across, unmolested by the murderous reptiles. Still the wildebeest hesitated, and we enjoyed the frisson of tension as they tried to work up the courage to advance.
We awoke to a ‘news splash’ the next morning – by the light of the full moon, several thousand wildebeest had forded the river. The roaring we heard as we ate breakfast advertised the fact that those remaining on our side of the river had a new gauntlet to run, and our guide was soon on the trail of a pride of lion.
At first, we couldn’t see them in the long grass where they lay feeding on a breakfast of wildebeest. Their meal was interrupted by a swaggering male lion which barged in and bodily carried the carcass to the shade of a lone acacia tree.
Two nights at Sanctuary Ngorongoro
Crater Camp
A second, equally slick ground-and-air transfer brought us to Tanzania’s second great wildlife destination: Ngorongoro Crater. Once a volcano loftier than Kilimanjaro, it must’ve been almost as high as our hopes for our final stop.
We’d wanted to visit Ngorongoro long before we’d mastered its tricky spelling, and as the afternoon began to cool we lost no time in walking with our guide along the crater rim, out from under the shady trees around Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp to a viewpoint looking down into the extinct caldera. Given that we were accompanied by a posse of Maasai warriors, we felt especially safe. They gave us a spectacular display of their jumping prowess as shadows stretched across the crater floor. The lake was as reluctant to let go of the light as we were to turn away from the view.
As the first game drive vehicle into the crater on our second day there, we felt like explorers stumbling across a lost world. We were struck by the variety of terrain, habitats and wildlife that the crater contained, and the juxtaposition of scenes we remembered from other luxury safaris, now combined in an extended remix of wildlife highlights.
Zebra walked by shockingly pink flamingos; a black rhino stood proud against an escarpment background that was in fact the crater wall. As we started to ascend back out the caldera a moment of unexpected domestic levity was provided by a Maasai herder leading his cattle to graze.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SANCTUARY RETREATS, ISTOCK