After a couple of nights at the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, it was on to Olduvai (now Oldupai again) Gorge for a picnic lunch and game viewing. Then came dinner and overnight at the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge overlooking the Ngorongoro Crater. It amazes me how they built these various spectacular lodges literally in the middle of nowhere. You have to see them to believe them. When you view pictures in brochures, it does not sink in exactly how remote these places are. It would have been interesting to watch the construction taking place and to see how all the building materials arrived!

Morning launched a full day Ngorongoro Crater tour and an excellent picnic lunch in the crater. There was considerable game in this area, and I photographed numerous interesting animal behaviors.

A Maasai manyatta we visited at Ngorongoro seemed far more authentic than the previous one we saw. This one was half the price of admission (ten American dollars instead of twenty) and from the Maasai people to their clothing, their dancing, their livestock and their huts, it seemed much more real. Even the smells seemed more authentic (I'm pretty receptive to that). And there were no "high pressure" sales, but plenty of original and unique items available.

Next destination was Lake Manyara, where we stayed at the Manyara Serena Lodge and had an afternoon game drive in Lake Manyara National Park. It was a good place to get excellent shots of baboons, giraffes and warthogs. It wasn't the right season for many elephants.

The next morning we made the trek from Lake Manyara back to Arusha and the Novatel Mount Meru for lunch, then on to the Kenya/Tanzania border at Namanga. From there it was back to Nairobi and the Nairobi Safari Club.