28.11.2019 Ngorongoro and return
This was going to be our last day on Safari ! Finally that day had arrived !
We decided that we would leave a little late after breakfast , around 0930 am
For the first time in many a moon , we had ordered tea in bed and we dawdled around , enjoying the fresh morning , the suns rays peeping through the large bay windows . From our high eyrie , the valley below was shrouded in clouds , there was mist hanging low in the ground , and in fact we seemed to be floating above the clouds , in our own world suspended from the sky !
We trooped down to have breakfast . Our ever ready butler served us a lovely breakfast of fresh produce and cold cuts . The buffet section , was loaded with home made hummus , falafel , grapes , salmon and capers , wonderful lyoners and salami , all kinds of preserves , fresh fruit- strawberries and other berries and tropical fruit , cereals ,breakfast rolls- soft cinnamon rolls , buttery croissants and orange marmalade filled Danish pastries , brilliant Kenyan Coffee .
Fried eggs with bacon and a side of ham , and their signature omelettes with thick cut toasts and an invigorating cup of coffee was the order of the day . We had a wonderful breakfast by ourselves , the bay doors open of the dining area , our table set next to the fire place ! We took some last photos from the observation deck , wishes our hosts goodbye .
Zakia was delayed a bit , and we finally left at 1000 am . It was one of those happy but sad goodbyes !
The crater – a last glimpse !
The General Manager and his team came back to say a warm farewell. We left with wonderful memories and a packed lunch .
Zakia was there to drop us back . But we had some birding to do in the way back . With our binocs and cameras read ya bd the sunroof up we set forth with keen eyes . Zakia , now very keen to sharpen her skills , given that the Big Birding Day was at hand and she had been given permission to be a part of the race , was all eyes and bushy tailed . Soon we started spotting Raptors -Black Eagles , Auger Buzzards and even a Martial Eagle
were easy sightings . The morning sun shone on tree tops. As we slowly drove our way down the winding snaking road , we stopped many times to photograph small and large birds . The wooded slopes of the hills sides were covered with many flowering trees and bushes which were unfamiliar to us.
At last we reached the exit gate leading out of the Ngorongoro , where we stopped to take few pictures of the informative boards and then headed out with regrets .
Near the airport , we stopped at a huge curio outlet meant for unsuspecting tourists . Here we were made to bargain for everything that we purchased . This is indeed a strange custom and very disconcerting ,as you really don’t know what is the correct price ! We found this most disagreeable as we purchased some giveaways for friends and family .
Eventually at the airport we said a teary eyed good bye to Zakia . She had been a sterling guide and had become a good friend . We sincerely hoped that her dreams would get fulfilled and that she would become a boss of her own outfit not too far in the future.
Our flight was delayed . To our annoyance a group of loud tourists joined us and we discovered that all of them were Parsis !
We quietly ate our lunch and got up on the flight when it finally did arrive
We flew off back to Serengeti central to pick up some more passengers in a brief stopover and the Parsis disembarked over there .
I soon dozed off in the flight after taking a few photographs through the planes windows .
Africa had one last surprise for us !
Instead of going directly back to Jomo Kenyatta directly , we landed at a remote
Mwanza airport at the corner of Lake Victoria . Lake Victoria was a mighty lake :
The lake was renamed Lake Victoria after Queen Victoria by the explorer John Hanning Speke, in his reports—the first Briton to document it. (It has since been recognized that the native guides used the name Lake Nyanza to describe it to him.) Speke accomplished this in 1858, while on an expedition with Richard Francis Burton to locate the source of the Nile River.[7][8] This expedition was financially sponsored by the Royal Geographic Society.
With a surface area of approximately 59,947 square kilometres (23,146 sq mi),[9][10] Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, the world’s largest tropical lake,[11] and the world’s second largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.[12] In terms of volume, Lake Victoria is the world’s ninth largest continental lake, containing about 2,424 cubic kilometres (1.965×109 acre⋅ft) of water.[10][13].
From Wiki
We were in the town of Mwanza , at the corner of this huge lake which from the air , looked like a huge sea . We were made to undergo a immigration check and customs check in two small rooms . I must say they were quite efficient and then we were back in the same plane again , this time headed for Jomo Kenyatta.
The vast Lake Victoria
At the Kenyatta airport , we were received by the local ground handlers who did an efficient job of transferring us tot he international flight section . We completed our formalities with no trouble . The only surprise , well I should have anticipated it , I had to leave behind the bottles of Piri Piri sauce that I had purchased earlier in the day ! Not allowed in cabin luggage !
We had a quiet dinner after shopping . A group of boorish noveau rich Indians were giving a tough time to some of the ladies selling goods in Duty Free area . I actually apologized to them for the really rude behavior of couple of the Gujarati bhais.
We finally took off close to midnight . The flight home was uneventful and we landed back in India , after an adventure of a lifetime , already a dream , full of memories to be savored at leisure .
We vowed that we will get back before too long !
Africa is etched in our hearts and we will be back before too long !
The informative posters at the Exit/ Entrance Gate to the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
Travels with Huvi et Tufan 