Ngorongoro Crater Region & Tortilis Camp
The Ngorongoro crater is a stunning place to visit. It’s actually an extinct volcano caldera (a collapsed volcano). And our main safari day at Ngorongoro was all about one thing… RHINOS! There are about 36 black rhinos living and they’re commonly known to be the most difficult to capture of the Big 5 (the next most difficult being the leopard)
Finding the rhinos pretty much comes down to luck. If there are any to be seen, they are likely far away as they seem pretty shy and do not readily approach the roads (and others will surely be viewing them). Below is an example of the distance we normally viewed them from (although we got lucky and saw some much closer which you can view in the safari gallery)
Photographing the rhinos in Ngorongoro is one of the scenarios where I wish I had a farther zoom, like the new Nikkor Z 800mm. However even with such a long zoom-lens, you’d still have to deal with heat and atmospheric interference at such long distances. The only other advice I have here is to just have patience. We ran into 3 different rhinos and while we observed each of them, they definitely covered a lot of ground. This made ideal positioning unpredictable and where patience (and a bit of luck) really pay off!
After our successful Big-5 completing game-drive, we headed to Tortilis Ngorongoro, our lodging for the night. The staff at this camp made the stay really pleasant, which was important because there’s two unique things about staying in Ngorongoro you should know.
It got cold at night! This was the only place we stayed where having a sweater/jacket comes in handy for night and in the early morning. The campsite is nestled deep among a forest canopy, so no sunsets here!
Earplugs. Why? Meet the rock Hyrax. A cute mammal (and relative to the elephant!) that looks a bit like a small marmot or quokka. They are active early in the morning (much like a rooster) and sing (scream) like a small squeaky engine turning over and over (and over).
