From Serengeti to Ngorongoro, it was a three-hour drive (once again, on bumpy roads). We arrived at our next lodge, Embalakai Ngorongoro, at around 10:30 AM and waited for 10 minutes for someone to come and greet us. The staff wasn’t responsive, giving me a bad first impression of the lodge. Our rooms weren’t ready as expected but we completed the paperwork to check in on the deck of the lodge. The deck was huge with views of the surrounding mountains. We were told our rooms would be #4 and #5 next to each other.
We used the toilets, stored our luggage, and headed to Ngorongoro Crater National Park, it was around a 30-minute drive from the lodge. On the way, we drove by a small village by a lake.
There was a line to enter Ngorongoro Crater National Park, the safari trucks parked along the road while the drivers paid the entrance fee and paperwork. There was a platform where you can view the crater underneath.
Once Emmanuel got back, we made our drive down to the crater and had a picnic lunch. There were picnic tables and toilets (I didn’t check out the toilet so no idea the condition of it). Acacia Central Camp made us a delicious lunch, I couldn’t believe how fancy and complete the picnic bag was. Hum…how would Emmanuel return the picnic bag and the pots to the lodge?
We had more than enough food: pots of beef stew, vegetables, noodles, breads and bananas!
Emmanuel also had a chilled bottle of sparkling wine! It was a perfect birthday lunch for Jason!
Next to the picnic table were birds, this one a mix of yellow and black feathers.
After the yummy and full lunch, we started our game drive! Ngorongoro Crater is famous for its black rhinos! That was our goal but knowing it would take luck to see it. We saw a herd of black buffalos first.
A pair of cranes.
Lots of flamingos on the lake.
But they were so far away that it was hard to get a good photos of them.
Our new Canon R5 mirrorless camera’s autofocus and tracking worked great!
More buffalos:
The crater’s landscape was so much different than Sergenti and we enjoyed both views.
Zebras, tons of zebras and safari trucks.
What were they doing? Emmanuel said they were scratching by the rock LOL!
We were amazed to see a zebra rolled over on the dirt…what was he doing? Emmanuel explained that was their way of cleaning LOL!!!!
The zebras took turn to shower, it was really fun to see them like that!
Next, we saw a pair of lions napping.
More flamingos:
Then, lots of safari trucks gathered at one place, could that be the black rhino? They said it’s all the way down there in the bushes, I couldn’t see it! Emmanuel used his binoculars and Jason zoomed in with his phone, they couldn’t see it either! It was too far away! We waited and waited, no movement 🙁 We circled the crater for hours and no sight of the black rhino. We asked Emmanuel if he has ever seen a black rhino here, he said yes, usually during the morning drives.
Look at those trees covered with white birds!
It was getting late so it was time to leave, as we were making our way up to the exit, we saw a herd of elephants.
The safari trucks stopped, what happened? There was a safari truck that broke down so it was stuck urg! Luckily, the road was just wide enough for other vehicles to pass it. Bad luck to those in that safari truck, Emmanuel said it could take hours for another truck to come to pull it up and since it was the busy season, their company might not have a spare truck to continue the safari. Actually, Emmanuel is a freelancer, he got called by our tour company to help as they don’t have enough drivers and trucks. Emmanuel rented the safari truck for this assignment OHHH!
We got back to our lodge, Embalakai Ngorongoro, and instead of rooms #4 and #5, we got rooms #5 and #7. Our room #7 was at the very end down the little hill, it was a rough walk up to the reception.
Our tent was okay, it wasn’t as luxurious as Acacia Central Camp and yet cost more per night than Acacia Central Camp!
The shower area was simple:
Wifi was available in the tent but since we were the furthest away, the signal was very spotty!
For dinner, it was buffet style as well: curry chicken, cole slaw, potatoes, and surprisingly, the dinner roll was very good! There was absolutely no service at dining, we had no interaction with the staff unlike Acacia Central Camp! We stayed one night at Embalakai Ngorongoro and that was enough!
Overall, Ngorongoro Crater National Park was good even though we didn’t get to see its famous black rhinos. We had a change of landscape and it was on the route on our loop back to Kenya.
