On the move

Today we left the Serengeti National Park and entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It took almost 2 hours to drive from our hotel in the Serengeti to the exit. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is right at the border.

Our first stop on the way to the crater was at the Olduvai Gorge, called the Cradle of Human Civilization. The first excavations there were done in 1813. It was in 1931 that Louis Leakey began digging in this area, but did not discover the first human like skull, until 1959, that lead to the conclusion that life of the human species began there. We learned about the geology of the land and how the various layers of soil came to be. There was a very good exhibit with many archeological items. The site is still active in June, July and August when college students and others come to continue to make discoveries.

We were then on the road again. We next stopped at a traditional Masai village. They greeted us with singing and dancing. We were then clothed in their attire and had jumping and dancing contests. The Masai are known to jump very high. Not sure many in our group got too far off the ground. We also went into a home to see what it looked like, visited the village school for the young children and got to shop for some of their handmade items. The Masai are herders, have no electricity or running water. They cook over wood in their house, which has no windows. At night all the animals are brought into the center of the boma and are corralled their to protect them. It looked like a very hard way of life.

We then continued on to our hotel, Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, on the rim of the crater. We had a late lunch and walked around the property. Then we had a very wonderful dinner. The pictures are from both nights, very fancy in a very remote place.