We left Edinburgh on Monday 19th on a Qatar flight to Kilimanjaro - via Doha - and arrived early on Tuesday morning to be met by our guide Solomon. On our way to Ngorongoro, we stopped first in Arusha for breakfast and then continued to Lake Manyara National Park. Spent a couple of hours on a game drive where we saw Baboons, Vervet and Blue Monkeys, Buffalo, Elephant, Plains Zebra and Wildebeest. We also saw Steppe Eagles, Tawny Eagles and even an African Crowned Eagle (a first)!
Another hour brought us to the Ngorongoro Conservation area gate and then a further 40 minutes of dirt road to our home for our first two nights. Pakalula Safari Camp is a mobile tented camp - comfortable but a little basic. Very friendly welcome from Margaret and her team and almost straight to dinner - it had been a long day. We hadn't reckoned on the 2300m (7000ft) altitude so weren't really prepared for the cool temperatures but very grateful for the hot water bottles in the bed since the temperature got down to 5C overnight.
Solomon had planned an early start for our drive into the crater to beat the rush so we were up at 5.30 with time for only a quick coffee before we were headed out in the mist to the security checkpoint, passing Giraffe and Zebra just outside the camp and arriving at the checkpoint just after their 06.00 opening.
It was cool in the truck with roof open as we headed down into the crater but the whole day was an incredible experience. We saw Thomson's and Grant's Gazelle on the crater wall and then came upon a pair of Lioness asleep in the grass with their cubs as we waited for a large bull Elephant to cross the road ahead of us.
The day continued in that amazing vein : three more pairs of Lioness with cubs; two male Lions having a bit of a chase; and an older male looking for a shady spot to sleep;
and a host of Hippos sunning themselves and cooling off in a large pool as we had our breakfast.
We also watched at least 28 bird species including both Greater and Lesser Flamingos and 3 or 4 species that we hadn't seen before.
It really was quite a magical day and our early start meant that we had avoided the convoys of safari trucks that were building up as we headed back to camp for an afternoon snack and a celebratory beer before we tried to negotiate the bucket shower which we had declined in the early hours of the morning!
We were the only guests in camp for our second night - unless you count the Zebra and Waterbuck which arrived just after dinnertime.
It was another cold morning as we got up at 5.15, with time for quick breakfast before we were on the road back to Lake Manyara and our flight to the Northern Serengeti.
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