Never miss the Ngorongoro Crater

I can’t believe it has – again – been so long since I have written. That means I need to go back three weeks to our visit to the fabulous Ngorongoro Crater and then on a friend’s nearby boma.

When I first arrived in Tanzania it was hot and very dry. While discussing the lack of grass for cows at the Isotok boma, I promised the medicine man that I would do a rain dance. Yikes! It has been raining pretty much every day since.

So back to the Crater…..It had been a particularly rainy 48 hours so the road to the Crater was a slippery slide. It is red earth with sloping sides. We and the other safari trucks were stopped for an hour from cars and a bus slipping down to the ditch and waiting to be moved aside for traffic to flow. When we did move it was pole-pole (slowly in Swahili). Thankfully, we did a couple of stops with our guide Paul before we got on the road – a stop for pipi (candy) for the kids in the boma visit and then to Jambo Caffe for the best double shot cappuccino ever!

Finally we reached the Crater entrance and started the steep decline into one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

-It is also one of the places left to see black rhino.  We saw plenty but none close up. I’ve been to the Crater often and found it a great place for all animals (expect no giraffe there).  But the animals were huddled in warm dry places, out of our view.  I was bummed for Collyn since it was her first safari but it didn’t keep us from loving the beauty and hanging with the hippos when we ate our lunch.  And much to our delight, on the drive to the boma, we saw a huge elephant with well-developed tusks running in the field next to our truck!

Early afternoon we climbed out of the Crater and headed for Kitashu’s boma.  He is our Maasai social worker at FAME.  During the week he stays in Karatu but weekends goes home to the boma to be with his family.

When we arrived Kitashu was helping to deliver a baby so we kept ourselves busy handing out pipi while the kids sang for us.  Mom’s hung out in the back to ensure good behavior.  We also left two bags of sugar for the adults to use in their tea.  YIKES not sure those were good gifts for a boma with no dentist.

When Kitashu returned he took us into his home to meet his wife.  To our delight, she and a friend dressed us in traditional garb to dance for the community.   

When the festivities were finished Kitashu walked us to a lovely spot where we washed our hands and were served roasted goat – a very special treat.

We made a gift to the boma for the kindergarten they are building.  Kids from the boma walk far to a school starting with primary grades.  Some say they don’t want to go.  But a kindergarten can get them excited about learning so when the time comes they are eager to go!

As we departed the women gave us a special gift.  It was quite a rewarding and satisfying day!

Poly poly, we left the crater area waiting for mud sliders to be moved!