{"id":215,"date":"2010-12-11T11:15:14","date_gmt":"2010-12-11T11:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/?p=215"},"modified":"2014-03-09T08:42:10","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T08:42:10","slug":"ngorongoro-conservation-area-day-24-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/2010\/12\/ngorongoro-conservation-area-day-24-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Day 24, 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Crater is the reason why the Serengeti and Masai Mara produce such a fertile environment for all these African beasts.\u00a0 Before this volcano exploded millions of years ago it is estimated to have been between 4 and 5km high and when it did explode it collapsed on itself leaving what now can be seen as the Ngorongoro Crater.\u00a0\u00a0 The reserve became a World Heritage site in the late 70\u2019s and has numerous Masai people living an \u2018almost\u2019 traditional life within this area.\u00a0\u00a0 There is almost no where in the world that western influence has not touched traditional life and the Masai people are no different.\u00a0\u00a0 So don\u2019t be surprised when a Masai man pulls out a mobile phone and asks for your phone number!<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>The drive into the Crater is like a scene out of a Hollywood film.\u00a0 Mist at the base and a covering of cloud around the rim suggests it\u2019s been staged to enhance our emotions.\u00a0 We first see zebra, then buffalo and it\u2019s all a little familiar as we have been spoilt in our past game drives.\u00a0 However the feel is different as we are not in \u2018Shaggy\u2019 and now in small 4X4s and away from the familiarity of the truck.\u00a0 But it is all good.\u00a0 We see lion, that\u2019s not unusual, but then we see a multitude of hyena.\u00a0 Hyena here, hyena there, <\/a>\"\"<\/a>hyena swimming, hyena eating, hyena cubs, hyena walking, hyena talking, hyena everywhere.\u00a0 But we had not seen it all and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (it was a day of rain in the crater) was the black rhino.\u00a0 One of the rarest animals to see in Africa and very elusive due to its shy nature. The first view of this animal was a glimpse of a horn, ears and a back.\u00a0 Then later to our excitement a black rhino was seen again but this time it removed itself from the coverings of the tall grass and the complete animal could be seen in all its glory.\u00a0 We had now seen the \u2018black rhino\u2019 and the hardest member of the \u2018big 5\u2019 to see in the wild!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The absolute ultimate safari experience was had in both the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater and drained all passengers on \u2018Shaggy\u2019.\u00a0 The experience and early mornings took its toll and the truck snuck into Arusha with heavy eyes and the quiet hum of muffled snores.<\/p>\n

Day 25 saw Christine adorned with the chain of shame.<\/p>\n

Tip of the day<\/em><\/strong> (both days): \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Getting up at 4.30am is a pain, but well worth it at the end of a game drive. The photos will prove it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Crater is the reason why the Serengeti and Masai Mara produce such a fertile environment for all these African beasts.\u00a0 Before this volcano exploded millions of years ago it is estimated to have been between 4 and 5km high … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[548,531,549,79,115,547,225,129,122,133],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-14th-nov-2010-absolute-safari-on-shaggy-denis","tag-a-glimpse-of-the-elusive-black-rhino","tag-a-world-heritage-site","tag-absolute-ultimate-safari-experience","tag-african-adventure","tag-arusha","tag-hyena-everywhere","tag-masai-mara","tag-ngorongoro-conservation-area","tag-ngorongoro-crater","tag-serengeti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1264,"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absoluteafrica.com\/liveblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}