Ngorongoro Crater

I'm going to get flack for this, but Ngorongoro was my least favorite safari location on my trip. From a geological perspective, I thought it was fascinating and I liked driving along the rim, but when we descended the crater for our game drive, I was struck by how busy it was down there.  It was far more crowded with game drive vehicles in the crater than it was anywhere else, even in the Serengeti.  Part of this is due to the fact that it's a relatively small area to drive, especially in comparison with Serengeti or Tarangire.  There's just not as much area to disperse the vehicles across. Charles also noted that there were not many vehicles in the crater, due to it being green season and that there are often hundreds of them in peak season.  I don't think that experience would be for me.

We also didn't see many predators or what I would consider to be compelling game.  We did see good numbers of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo.  We saw some very charismatic warthogs, hippos out of water (which is always a treat), and rhino from up on the crater rim.  

I definitely appreciated driving around the rim and I realize that game viewing is super hit and miss, from day to day or even hour to hour. I don't think I would call Ngorongoro a "miss" at all, but I would temper my expectations and realize that this will always be a busy part of the itinerary.