This was initially posted on my previous blog on July 13, 2017.
Day 2 was incredible. It started a little slow when we had issues getting our permit to get into the park, but that time provided us a chance to watch the monkeys get into different vehicles and get their lunch boxes. Thankfully, our vehicles were closed and we all kept our lunches. Finally, we got our permits and we were off. The first stop was a viewpoint area for the crater. It was a beautiful view, but we were still too high to see the animals. We saw our first giraffes at a distance on the hillside, hiding in the trees. It was our only giraffe sighting of the trip so far.
We stopped at a local community to see how they live. Instantly they asked for $20 from each person, which was a turnoff given we didn’t know about that in advance. They did two tribal dances for us, which was nice, and then showed us their huts. It was incredibly hot and dark in the huts and way too low for me. It was interesting to see their way of life, but I hated that they kept pushing us for money. They even showed us the “kindergarten” and had the kids say the alphabet. Then pointed towards the donation box. Great seeing their culture, but annoying that they always had their hands out for money.
Then we finally got to the bottom of the crater! There were hundreds of animals living together in this beautiful area. As you can see from the photos below, we saw a wide range of animals. The highlights were the lions though. We finally saw two males laying in the shade of the tree and then saw sleeping females in the plains. We also saw rhinos in the far distance through binoculars, but hey, we saw them. Everywhere you looked, there were animals. I would love to go back!
We explored the crater for hours, but finally it was time to head to our “glamping” campsite at the top of the crater. I am officially sold on “glamping.” These huts were so nice. We had a screened in patio and nice beds. The views of the crater were stunning. Dinner was pretty good too. Have I mentioned I want to go back here?
