Scotudy's Travel Log: Day 3 - Ngorongoro Crater and the Maasai Village

We’re blogging in our bed with a mosquito net around it even though we haven’t seen a single mosquito. Ngorongoro Crater was a major disappointment. All we saw today were hundreds of Zebras and Wildebeests, Cape Buffalo, Lions, Elephants, Hyenas, Jackyls, Ostriches, Warthogs, Hippos, Black Rhinos, several species of big ass birds, Gazelles, and a Cheetah. We didn’t see one single White Rhino, oh I forgot, those are endangered and are not even down there. It’s a very interesting environment because there are a bazillion vehicles driving around and the animals pretty much ignore them, even walking across the road in front of them, refusing to move away. The Cheetah was a highlight because they are not normally around there, they just pass through. The drivers all communicate with one another so when someone finds something interesting everyone descends upon the same spot. We came upon one of the ugliest sites in the world, a Warthog feasting on a pile of fresh Elephant dung. You can’t make this stuff up! It's also interesting to see that people spend thousands of dollars on a trip like this and show up with a point and shoot camera, but not everyone owns 15 cameras like my wife. What’s interesting is that you travel half way around the world and become blasé about the more common animals like Zebras, Wildebeests, and even Elephants. After finally becoming tired of exotic animals (yea right) we decided to go visit exotic people. Our driver took us to a Maasai village where they give tours and let you take as many photographs as you wish for a donation of only $50. The people of the village first came out and gave us a traditional “let’s soak the American’s” welcome dance. The chief something or other, then took us on a tour of his house which is made of twigs and mud mixed with cow dung. Dung seems to be very big in Africa. The house was round and approximately 10 feet in diameter. There was a small fire, both for warmth and cooking, in the middle and a small hole in the ceiling to let light in and smoke out. Other than that, there were 2 beds, both made of twigs with cowhide on top. That was it. He talked a little about their culture, soaked us for another $15 for 2 ugly necklaces and then turned us loose to take photos, all the while trying to get us to buy other goods from other members of the tribe. He even wanted Judy to trade her watch for 2 ugly bracelets, but she put her foot down and refused. All in all, it was very interesting and worth the $65. Finally after driving around on dusty and bumpy roads all day long, we arrived at our hotel down another stretch of dusty, very bumpy road. Sorry, haven't edited any animal photos yet but we'll work on it!

Nothing like a tasty appetizer of Elephant dung!