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WONDERS OF NATURE
Ngorongoro Crater. Nature miracle
Something characteristically African is heard in the very word "Ngorongoro": the rumble of native drums or thunderstorms over the savannah, or perhaps the grumbling of a disturbed lion ... And indeed, here, in Ngorongoro, perhaps, all the diversity of African fauna is collected, all a kaleidoscope of its landscapes, except maybe deserts.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a giant absolutely round volcanic caldera, the second largest in the world: 20 kilometers in diameter, 250 square kilometers of area. The sheer walls of the crater rise above its bottom by 700 meters, and rise above the surrounding plain for more than two kilometers. Only in one place did the animals manage to make a path into the volcanic depression and gradually populate it (fortunately, the volcano died out a long time ago). People came for the animals, and now on the site of the animal trail there is already a dirt road connecting Ngorongoro with the outside world. True, not every driver will dare to go down her dizzying serpentines (even on a Land Rover). The bowl-caldera remained unknown to science for a long time. Only in 1891 did the first European explorer, the German scientist Baumann, manage to get here. But until the middle of the XNUMXth century, literally a few of the many zoologists and geologists who explored the "black continent" visited this amazing corner of Africa. Only after the books and films of the remarkable fighter for saving the African fauna, Dr. Bernhard Grzimek, Ngorongoro became widely known in the scientific world, and the Tanzanian government organized a reserve here. The steep slopes of the crater are overgrown with forest, which in some places has spread to the flat bottom of the caldera, but most of the giant bowl is occupied by savannah. However, on the spacious plain there was a place for two lakes, and a vast swamp - a favorite haven for hippos. Abundant springs at the foot of the cliffs feed small rivers that flow into lakes. People appeared in the crater relatively recently, so for centuries no one interfered with grazing and hunting here for wild animals. Therefore, Ngorongoro turned into a kind of Noah's Ark, isolated from the surrounding area and now striking the traveler with the abundance and diversity of the horned, tailed and feathered population. Only large animals here number about twenty thousand, and up to two hundred thousand mammals live in the crater. There are no less birds here. The list of fauna in this unique corner of Africa resembles the table of contents of a zoological guide: elephants, hippos, rhinos, zebras, buffaloes, wildebeests, elands and bubals, Thomson and Grant's gazelles, warthogs and waterbucks, baboons and green monkeys inhabit savannas and forests Ngorongoro. There are, of course, predators: lions and leopards, hyenas and jackals, cheetahs and wild servals. There are probably more birds than animals. Ostrich and African bustard, secretary bird and important nosed marabou, pink flamingo and crowned crane are found here at every turn. There is a hoopoe, a weaver, and a lark, a swallow, a lapwing or a cuckoo familiar to us ... And on the branches of baobabs and acacias growing in the savannah, gloomy vultures and black African eagles have found shelter. Having found out about the fertile valley hidden by the mountains, Masai pastoralists moved here from the surrounding plains. Their villages-kraals are located at different ends of a secluded depression. Here they graze their herds and still, as if time has stopped and nothing changes in the world. They still build their huts with conical roofs and walls, wickerwork smeared with dung, they still go out one on one against a lion, armed only with a spear. And I must say that this duel often ends in favor of the hunter, so the lions prefer to bypass the Masai kraals. Nowadays, when Ngorongoro has become a nature reserve, it is relatively easy to get here not only from Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, but also through Kenya, from Nairobi. The only requirement for tourists is not to get out of the car and not to leave the roads laid for inspection. It is also forbidden to honk and shout loudly. When the car stops on the crest of the crater, looking down is breathtaking. An endless bowl with sheer walls, slightly covered with morning mist, appears before the viewer in all its grandeur. Soon, under the rays of the sun, the fog dissipates, and through it look all the large areas covered with greenery. However, the haze gives the whole landscape a fantastic shade; everything seems to be a mirage, a vision caused by some witchcraft spell. From above, the bottom of the crater seems at first glance to be a huge smooth green carpet. But then you can see here and there small hills and darker spots - patches of forest. Looking more closely, you notice the sun glare on the surface of the river winding below and two fairly large lakes. Going down the serpentine dirt road, you almost immediately meet a herd of zebras. Several hundred striped beauties leisurely pinch the clover, paying no attention to you. Near the same, if not more, a herd of wildebeest is also quietly grazing, not reacting to the sound of the motor. This density of the animal population is a characteristic feature of Ngorongoro. If in the large national parks of Africa, like the Serengeti, you need to drive several kilometers to see a family of lions or a company of giraffes, then in Ngorongoro all the wildlife attractions are, as it were, compressed. At the bottom of the crater, landscapes with their typical fauna change much more often than in the expanses of the East African savannah. Having just met a group of elephants and a noisy company of baboons fleeing from a leopard, you have just passed through the forest, and now you have a lake in front of you, and thousands of flamingos, slowly stepping out with an angular step, together dip their heads into the water and filter the silt with their beaks. And behind the lake, at the source, there is a swamp - the kingdom of unhurried fat hippos, busily crunching sedge. At the edge of the swamp in the thick grass is a family of rhinos. Here it is better for the traveler to turn aside: these thick-skinned aggressive and, without hesitation, can go on the attack on the car. But then the swamp ended, and in the clearing that appeared ahead, a herd of Grant's gazelles with cubs galloped cheerfully. It is hilarious to watch how the kids jump over bumps, pushing off with four legs at once, like springs come to life. And suddenly, right next to the car, an unusually deserted space opened up. What's the matter? Nothing special, just an old lion reclining majestically under an acacia, lazily driving away flies with a wave of his tail. Here is a cheetah, with some snakelike movement, disappears into the grass, which is only about his shoulder. Here is a leopard looking haughtily from a baobab branch. And then, by the bush, a family of eared foxes started a game. And so all the way through the crater. Moreover, the voices of birds constantly sound overhead and in the greenery of the forest: either the well-known “kuku” to us Europeans, or something more exotic, for example, the strange croaking cry of an African bustard, similar to bird singing no more than the sound of a car signal. The whole variety of birds is not just collected here, but also thoroughly mixed, so that at the same time, say, a crowned crane, a stork and a marabou, and after a few meters - a hoopoe, a secretary bird and a weaver, fall into the field of view. A city dweller involuntarily imagines animals in the wild as he sees them in a zoo: each in its own cage. But in Ngorongoro, thanks to the abundance of food and water and the diversity of the ecological environment, the mixture reigns, which is the hallmark of this wonderful place. This is what attracts thousands of lovers of African fauna from other continents. Author: B.Wagner
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