From Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater

23 December, Thursday; Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. After packing up, we left the lodge for our last game drive in the Serengeti en route to Ngorongoro Crater. Although the wildlife in the Serengeti was amazing, we were definitely ready to leave. We weren’t very pleased with our lodge, the Seronera Wildlife Lodge. Don’t get me wrong, the public areas were beautiful and the room was adequate. All three lodges are owned by the same company and the company seems to be against ceiling fans. I get the no A/C, but come on….some airflow please! However, that wasn’t our complaint. The food was abysmal. I wasn’t expecting Gordon Ramsay or anything, but some degree of quality would have been appreciated. It was breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet. Buffets can be pretty good (been to Vegas??), but it was nearly all awful. On the last night, we almost wanted to just skip dinner, but it’s not like we can grab a cab somewhere else. After a disappointing dinner, I was hoping for a somewhat yummy dessert. It rained that afternoon and that apparently brings out the beetles. Unfortunately, it seems that beetles like dessert as well, as they were all over the cake. I took a piece off of the part without the beetles (I know…stupid, but I was REALLY hungry and it looked yummy) and actually enjoyed it……..until I saw a beetle underneath the slice on my plate. Ew. On our last game drive through the Serengeti, the only new animal we saw was a small turtle crossing the road.

However, we did see more giraffes,

grey-crowned Cranes (the national bird or Uganda),

and some foraging Vervet Monkeys.

As we left the central area for the open plains, we of course saw even more and more zebras and wildebeests. To our surprise, we also came across a lioness and her three cubs, which was our first up close cub sighting. They seemed to be miles away from where you’d typically expect to see lions, but we’ll take all the sightings we can get. Seeing lions never seems to get old. It’s so amazing that they sit there right on the side of the road, feet away from you and are just hanging out without a care in the world. King of the Jungle, indeed.

Our lodge for the night overlooks Ngorongoro Crater and is gorgeous. The public areas are lovely and the rooms are just OK, but the views from both are fabulous.

The view from our bedroom (18 photo panoramic stitch)

The view from the outdoor hotel bar (15 photo panoramic stitch)

We sat out on the deck and enjoyed some sodas. I might have ordered a gin and tonic, but I am getting a bit tired of G&T without ice. Looking down onto the crater floor was like watching everything in miniature. Little toy cars driving on little roads through little fake trees. It was nearly impossible to spot any animals from so far away, even with Ben’s super zoom that lets you zoom in to see the pitcher’s shoelaces from the nosebleed seats at a baseball stadium. First we watched where the cars were stopping. Clearly there was something interesting, but too small to be interesting to us. Then Ben was somehow able to spot an elephant. He tried and tried to show me through the camera, but I just couldn’t see it. After another look through the large binoculars, I was able to spot it. Quite cool.

Dinner was surprisingly yummy. We were very disappointed with the food and service at Seronera Wildlife Lodge in Serengeti, but this place was ten times better. Yes, it was a buffet, but it was yummy. And most importantly, there were no beetles in my dessert. Sadly, we were in bed by 8:15. We’re definitely not the party bunch. Give us a break – we were up at 6am this morning.