The first game drive... An angry elephant and a wonderful lodge

June 20th 2011 : 5.30PM
Salvatory explained that we would now have to head back to the lodge. The crater 'closes' at six o'clock, and we had to reach the ranger gate before this time. Though of course, as the best guide in the Africa, Salvatory would always stop and let us grab another few million pixels of memories:

The road leaving the crater is a fairly steep switchback and provides breathtaking views over the caldera floor. This was another situation where a lack of camera equipment caused a problem. With the internal prop flights only able to take 15kg per person we had really stripped down our cases - I had done this even to the point of not packing the 50mm lens, which would have been much better for the landscape shots...

Part of the switchback

We hit the gate around five minutes before 6pm and Salvatory gunned the Patrol through the final rise and onto the road that ran the rim. The colour of Africa was changing; the green of the grasses and trees that we had seen earlier that morning was now losing out to the red colours of the coming sunset and the rust coloured road dust that vehicles had kicked up in a fine spray over the course of the day.

Phillipa and I settled back into our seats, too tired and too overwhelmed to yet talk about the day. We chugged the rest of our cans and popped the empties into the bin next to the fridge at the back of the Patrol.
Salvatory stopped the jeep, climbed into the back and asked me to help him pull down the roof and secure it fast. The roof stood tall on 4 folding arms, held up by two hydraulic struts. Salvatory grabbed the front handles and I the back, and together we swung our weight forward to bend the arms and bring the roof down. Four large rubber pulls at each corner slotted into grooves and held it tightly shut; until tomorrow :-)

Salvatory hopped over the drivers seat, hit the gear and hit the gas. We had been used to a sedate ride all around the crater floor, and the extra burst of speed woke us up a little. We passed a fairly derelict looking building on our right which we were told was the local police barracks, and then a wide brown track which was the Ngorongoro airstrip.

Not quite Gatwick...

We were peering across at this (Phillipa with interest, me with bum-puckering trepidation) when on came the anchors and the Patrol juddered to a halt. As he was braking Salvatory shut off the engine too.
The surprise of all this shot our heads round to the front and what then filled our view was an old bull elephant. We had disturbed his meal and he was peering back at us; Salvatory silently unfixed the rubber stops holding the small sunroof above his head - this folded forward and locked, and Phillipa and I stood up very slowly, poking our heads up through the gap and leaning on the driver and passenger seats.

There are not many times I will use the word 'exhilarated' and mean it; this however was definitely one such occasion... It was so close we could see the texture of his skin and hear the workings of the muscles in his trunk and jaw.

We stood, open mouthed, not making a sound, but he knew we were there. Every now and again he would turn and peer at us. Eventually, he began to move and it was incredibly fortuitous that his route was taking him across the road in front of us. He walked with a remarkable grace considering his size, making barely a noise as he moved through the dry grasses.
It was then I wished I was a better photographer. The elephant passed in front of the setting sun, bestowing upon us a view so beautiful it is really hard to find the right words to describe it...
The pictures certainly don't do it justice and I'm sure it didn't help that I kept fiddling and clicking different options, trying in vain to find some way to capture the moment. So here are a few out of focus and badly exposed snaps:

I know this isn't a great photo, but I really like it so you're stuck with it extra large

He began to cross the road, and Salvatory started the Patrol and nudged us closer. We could see the elephant eyeing us up without moving his head. His outstretched leg slowly pulled back, and he became motionless.

We barely breathed...

Then he turned to face us. A stand-off!

Phillipa and I were both statue still, frozen in awe at the sight - what appeared at first as a magnificent old friendly elephant had become something else as he faced us - something really big and dangerous that had taken exception to our gawking.

Then he did something that shocked me down into my seat. He gave a rumble, not quite a trumpet, and flapped his ears at us. Now, this might not sound like anything at all, but those ears are bloody big and it made a hell of noise. Dust flew as his ears slapped outwards from his neck, and combined with the snort from his trunk it sounded like a thunderclap.

Apparently this is a warning - it's a 'back-off buddy' move. I did exactly as I was told and sat my ass down. Salvatory grabbed my arm and exhorted me to 'get up, take photos!!'.
So I stood back up, noticing that Phillipa hadn't moved (annoying - but then she has had an Indian elephant step on her chest on her travels...)
With a sheepish smile at Phillipa, up came the camera for some more photos and some video as he decided that we were no threat and that he could happily cross the road...

As the elephant sauntered off, we sat back down and Salvatory continued the drive back to lodge. This meeting had really perked us up and got us talking. Well, perhaps talking is too grand a word for the 'ooh's' and the 'oh my god's' and the 'did you see's' that we peppered each other with for the next few minutes.

The sun was setting as we reached the top of the ridge, and we were noticing that it dropped rapidly in comparison to back home. We had left at around 6am that morning, and were returning after 6pm... Most people we met would do much shorter drives (which we could have asked for) but Salvatory's first thought is to his clients, and we wanted to see as much as possible - anyway, we had a honeymoon in Zanzibar coming up; we'd relax there!

We were dropped off at the lodge and Salvatory headed over to the guides area.

We had read about this, the guides have separate areas and can't join you for dinner etc. Salvatory would join us for a drink on a few nights, and for lunch and dinner at our wedding (we were adamant about this), but he did seem keen to also meet with his friends at the guides area so it's not quite as we had read. By the time we got to Zanzibar for our honeymoon we thought so much of Salvatory that it took us days to get used to not being with him. Phillipa and I still talk about him - a nicer man you will not meet!
We arranged to meet for a drink after dinner, and Phillipa and I headed into reception. We were stopped here and again given fresh warm towels to wipe our faces and hands, and an extremely fresh and thirst quenching fruit drink. We sipped these as we headed down the large wooden staircase to the veranda that overlooked the whole crater.

The Serena Lodge - each room looking right over the crater

Of course, by this time we just wanted Tusker beer, food and a shower. And we wanted it all in that order too.
With this in mind, we turned left and straight into the main restaurant and bar area. We grabbed two bottles of Tusker from the bar and carried them straight through, picking up the raised walkway outside all the way to our room and swigging the African nectar as we walked.

The rooms here were superb. Have a look at http://www.serenahotels.com/serenangorongoro/default-en.html for a full idea of this awesome place. The bathroom was on our right as we entered, just past an almost-walk in wardrobe. The bedroom was straight on and had a huge, comfy bed, a writing desk and huge sliding glass doors that looked out over the crater. We weren't about to take too long in the room though, a quick shower, a quick 'no' from Phillipa when I asked for a fumble (worth a try) and then we were heading back to the restaurant. We walked past the bar towards the open fire that resides at the bottom of the spiral staircase leading to the upper floor and the restaurant.
We didn't have a single bad meal during our whole time in Africa, so if you are going and are worried, don't be. These lodges are top class, and so is the food and service.

Each night at this lodge there is a performance or show downstairs and unfortunately our timing was off this night. Just as we were tucking in to a fantastic curry we could hear the Maasai performers downstairs; we made a mental note to hold off dinner until after this performance the next night.

The food and beer was working its magic and our eyes were closing as we finished dessert. We walked back downstairs on leaden legs and eschewed a nightcap at the bar in favour of sleep. After all, we had to get up early again - unbeknownst to us at this point of course, we had the full action of a lion kill to see the next afternoon...