Our first introductions to Ebony wood carvings. The wood is extremely hard, so heavy that it sinks in water and difficult to work with. In spite of that the artisans have been very successful at carving intricate designs and figures, each from a single piece of wood.
Local designs of scarves, traditional and modern at the same time.
The crafts store was more of a museum than a shop.
The ebony tree has a dark interior and lighrer coloured wood under the bark. As the tree matures and adds layers to the tree trunk, more and more wood becomes dark with a surrounding inch of lighte coloured wood. This leads to limitless creativity in the hands of the aritisan, creating patterns of dark and light in the single piece of sculpture.
A local wood carver took me for a tour. Here he is showing me a young ebony tree which will give up its treasured wood in a few decades. You can see the felled mature tree trunks in the back, in the processs of drying and curing before the creativity begins!
A close upi of the ebony tree trunk, we can see the lighter wood which surrounds the inner core of dark, heavy wood.
"On the road again", a relatively short ride up to the rim of the Ngorongoro crater.
Maasai leading their traditional lifestyle.
The Ngorongoro crater, Lake Magadi on the left and the Goringop swamp. The crater is a caldera from one of the eight extince volcanoes in the region.
Ngorongoro was named by the Massai pastoralists after the sound produced by the cowbell (ngoro ngoro). Based on fossil evidence found, various hominid species have occupied the area for 3 million years.
The Maasai villages, often surrounded by a fence to keep marauding animals away from the herds of goats and cattle.
An acacia tree with weaver bird nests.
The Magadi lake is a shallow, 1.7 meter deep alkaline lake. From this distance we had no idea of the wonders we would find in and around the lake.
Wildlife appeared as we descended all the way into the bottom of the caldera, the mountains in the back surround the crater and limit the movement of animals in or out to some degree.
We saw a huge elephant in the distance.
As we got closer, we saw tha longest tusks we had seen so far.
As long as an elephant's tusks are intact, it can reveal an elephant's age relative to other elephants. Elaphants gather mud and sand with their trunks and throw it onto their bodues, it protects them against the sun and bugs and also acts to insulate them against both the cold and the heat.
One of the more aggressive animals seen during our safaris, sometimes called "the widowmaker". The closest relative in not domestic cattle or the Ameircan bison, they are closest to the Asian water buffalo.
The African buffalo is one of the "Big Five" game animals and is listed as Near threatened by the IUCN.
A Cory Bustard
The alkaline lake grew closer, the pink haze resolved into thousands of "Lesser Flamingos" the only difference from the Greater Flamingos is the size. The pink color is derived from their dead algae diet which is often found in the salty lakes they inhabit.
Thompson's gazelle
From a distance this looked like a lion rolling around in the grass....
It was actually two lionesses, now done playing and looking hard for a tasty zebra.
On the east end of the crater is the Goringop swamp, reminded me of the Everglades in Florida.
Spotted an eagle near the swamp.
A Lesser Spotted Eagle, spendng the winter in Tanzania. It breeds in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Maranu stork likes to hang out near human habitation, it was not shy about wallking up and helping itself to our picnic lunch!
The African Golden Weaver, we finally got the see the bird that built those nests in acacia trees a few miles away.
A blue and orange starling
The mountains surrounding the Ngorongoro crater close to the Goringop swamp.
A warthog. Warthogs have bony protrusions on their face mistaken for warts. They often sleep underground in abandoned dens, backing in to sleep so they are ready to fight a predator.
Warthogs have short necks and relatively long legs. They have to kneel to reach the grass and have developed special knee pads.
Rhinoceros have been hunted alomst to extinction. There are supposedly only 4 rhinos surviving in the Serengeti. We saw two from a long distance, looking down from a hill.We could barely make them out with binoculars, but thanks to a sharp tele lens we enjoyed looking at them after I got home.
A spotted Hyena.
On the way back from the Ngorongoro crater, sunset happened fast in the southern hemisphere springin October.
We were lucky enough to enjoy (and participate !) in a Maasai dance at the lodge.
