Ngorongoro

Ngorongoro perhaps as big as Kilimanjaro, and collapses inward

The map was published in the journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. XL, 1870. Accompanying an article by the Rev. T. Wakefield, missionary of Mombasa, entitled "Routes of Native Caravans from the Coast to the interior of Eastern Africa."

It is the first known map to show either Ngorongoro or the Serengeti. A general concept of the country south east of Meru was beginning to emerge. The Rift Wall is shown running due North and South from Lake Baringo to Lake Manyara.

Along the line of the rift, on its western flank, running southward from Lengai, Serengeti is shown. A caravan route, distinct from the main routes to Lake Victoria detailed in the text, is shown running westward from the Pare Mountains, and terminating at Ngorongoro, rightly placed to the west of the rift and just north of the northern tip of Lake Manyara.

Original size 48cm x 39 cm. Photograph by Hugh von Larwick

Farler describes the Ngorongoro Crater as:

‘a thickly populated Masai district with many villages. The country is full of big game, harboured in the neighbouring forest. A strong boma is made here, and the caravan remains about twenty days to trade and hunt....

There are several wells here, with good water and much cattle. The country is very open, with a good pasturage of short sweet grass, and no trees.’

Ngurdoto, like the famous Ngorongoro, is extinct, and both have the graduated bowl known as a caldera, which is formed when the molten core of a volcano subsides into the earth and the steep crater walls fall inward. Ngorongoro was unknown to the outside world until 1892, and not until early in this century did the white man find this smaller caldera to the east of Meru.

Ngurdoto, like the famous Ngorongoro, is extinct, and both have the graduated bowl known as a caldera, which is formed when the molten core of a volcano subsides into the earth and the steep crater walls fall inward. Ngorongoro was unknown to the outside world until 1892, and not until early in this century did the white man find this smaller caldera to the east of Meru.

By 1905 he [Siedentopf] held more than 2,000 head of cattle and had plans to expand up to 5,000. (Fuchs)

A Siedentopf, who had established a cattle ranch on the crater bottom, and his assistant Rothe discovered mounds near their homestead in 1912 and soon recognised them as burial cairns. They were later examined by Drs Reck (in 1913) and Arning (in 1915), who found in one of them the skeletons of a man, a woman and, lying between them, of a child.

.... Professor Ankermann - in an appendix to Reck's paper - states that the Ngorongoro tombs show several similarities with. but also contrasts to, those of Engaruka, but that both types prove Hamitic origin. He is unable to decide their age but doubts whether they should be ascribed to a Neolithic culture, as Reck does.

First record of British presence in Ngorongoro is visit of military cattle buying party.

Mr. H.C. Allison, of Mumbwa Copper Mine in Zambia tells me [Fosbrooke] that he visited the crater with Lieutenant Middleton in 1917 to purchase cattle for the British troops.

With the arrival of peace, and with the British taking over Tanganyika's affairs, there was a fresh chance of the crater being allowed to revert to its former role - a paradise of nature. It very nearly did nothing of the sort. The Germans had begun farming it, and therefore arrangements were made for British farmers to carry on with the work. The two houses, the one at Lerai, and the other to the north, were still standing; but for the time being there were more convenient agricultural pickings nearer to the towns and the railways. By the time people were beginning to look elsewhere, the crater was being regarded as a protected area, even though no legislation had been made to this effect. When a conservation law was eventually passed, the 130 square miles of the crater formed part of a huge national park collectively known as the Serengeti. This covered 7,500 square miles.

First Game Laws introduced. Game Preservation Ordinance demanded that hunting should be on a licence for which fees were laid down: certain methods of hunting were prohibited, but no special regulations were applied to the Serengeti or Ngorongoro, which could be hunted over just as anywhere else. As lion were at that time classified as vermin, they could be shot without restriction.

Clark's account of his first view of the crater is worth recording:

'Imagine yourself standing on the edge of a gigantic bowl twelve miles in diameter with huge sweeping walls rising to a wonderfully uniform height two thousand feet above the level of the bottom. One gazed down upon lakes and forests and plains that were so merged into uniformity by the distance as to seem like nothing more than a gigantic and amazingly smooth floor covered with a patchwork of different shades of green and tan, with here and there the sheen of sunlight on smooth water. I clung there gazing for minutes, making out this and that, and concious of wast numbers of black and white specks that looked very much as peper and salt might look scattered about the bottom of a bowl of dark green jade. I focused my glasses and to my amazement the specks came to life and resolved themselves into enormous herds of wildebeest and zebra. The brightly marked zebra were the tiny grains of salt. The dark wildebeest were the flakes of peper and even when my glasses had shown me positively what they were, I could hardly believe my eyes, so vast were their numbers.'

In 1927 Dick Cooper engaged Blixen for a three-month safari. Blixen was on hand to meet his client on the docks at Mombasa, and the safari was soon making its journey inland.

. . . . .

Blixen subsequently took Cooper into Tanganyika to hunt in the area surrounding Ngorongoro crater. In 1927 there were still no roads in the region, which teemed with an assortment of wildlife. Bror had engaged porters at Nganika Springs, northeast of the crater, and the safari had trekked up the steep slopes to the forested rim at eight thousand feet, then down the other side to the floor of the crater at six thousand feet.

Blixen had obtained permission to camp in the crater so that Cooper could obtain exotic wildlife films. Before the war two German brothers named Siedentopf had lived on the crater floor and killed thousands of wildebeest in order to can the tongues, which were carted out on the backs of porters all the way to Arusha.

One of the brothers, Adolf, wound up dead with a Masai spear through the abdomen. Arusha white hunter George W. Hurst was subsequently granted a 99-year lease on the crater.

When Hurst was later killed by an elephant, the lease passed to an Englishman [sic: he was Scottish] named Sir Charles Ross, manufacturer of the Ross bolt-action rifle, and its advanced .280 Ross cartridge (.280 nitro). Ross had first visited the crater on a foot safari during which numbers of rhino, lion, and other game were shot, but once he acquired a proprietary interest, his attitude changed, and he took measures to reduce hunting and protect the animals, many of which were migratory.

Norman B Livermore, American businessman, visited the Crater with Andrew Newbury, with J.A.Hunter as their professional Hunter, assisted by A.P.de K.Fourie.

1892 Baumann visits Crater (March)

1899c. Siedentopf establishes himself in Crater

1908 Fourie visits Siedentopf

1913 Professor Reek's first visit

1916 Siedentopf departs (March)

1920 British mandate over Tanganyika

1921 Sir Charles Ross, Barns and Dugmore visit Crater: first Game Laws introduced

1922 Holmes' photographic expedition: Hurst living in Crater

1923 The Livermore safari

1926c Veterinary camp established at Lerai

1928 Crater declared Complete Reserve

1930 All Ngorongoro and Serengeti declared Closed Reserve

1932 First motor road to crater rim

1934 Author's first visit to Ngorongoro

1935 Building of first Lodge commenced

1940 East rim road to northern highlands: first National Parks legislation: unimplemented

1948 First National Parks Ordinance receives assent

1951 National Parks Ordinance comes into operation: boundaries of Serengeti gazetted (1 June)

1952 Park administration moves in (August)

1954 D-O. posted to Ngorongoro: cultivation prohibited by law: 'squatters' evicted

1956 Sessional Paper No. i publishes Government's proposals re Ngorongoro and the Serengeti

1957 Committee of Enquiry Report (October)

1958 Government Paper No. 5 announces Government's decision

1959 Conservation Area inaugurated (i July)

1961 Arusha Conference and Arusha Manifesto: author takes over as Chairman of Authority (September)

1963 Authority disbanded and Conservator appointed

1963 Catering first started at Lodge

1965 First Tanzanian Conservator appointed (September)

Ngorongoro Crater, bounded by the rim, declared Complete Reserve in which all hunting was prohibited. As about one third of the Crater floor was in private ownership - that of Sir Charles Ross - that area had to be excluded from the order, but there is no evidence that Sir Charles, or any of his friends ever took advantage of this position of privilege: on the contrary he was one of the earliest to regard the crater as a game sanctuary.

It is safe to say that Tanganyika holds a front place among our East African Colonies for the number and variety of its game animals. The belt from Tanga through to Lake Victoria is where game is most numerous. There is an abundance of the commoner antelope, and in certain parts the rarer species such as the Greater and Lesser Kudu, Gerenuk, etc., are still fairly plentiful. Big game like the Elephant, Rhinocerous, Lion and Buffalo, all of which hold for the hunter a new thrill and experience, are to be found in this area in such a variety of country and cover that the Hunting of no two animals is ever alike.

Here the hunter passes through most interesting country; Kilimanjaro with its snow-capped dome, running streams and dense forests, across the plains to the Natron Lakes and the Great Rift Wall with its volcanic formation and on to the great Crater, Ngorongoro. In his travels he will come into contact with some of the most interesting and picturesque tribes that inhabit Africa such as the Masai, Wambulu, etc., each with their own quaint customs and histories.

The Ngorongoro Crater, the greatest crater in the world, measuring approximately 12 miles in diameter, seen from the Mbulu side, is a delight to the eye with its teeming herds of game ; Wildebeest alone running into tens of thousands. This scene conveys to one the idea of a great National Park. Nature has provided the crater with a precipitous rock fence for tns most part and with lakes and streams to slake the thirst of the great game herds which inhabit it. The unalienated part of the crater is now a complete game reserve in which a great variety of game is to be found such as Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Lion, and all the smaller fry. The Elephant although not in the crater is to be found in the forests nearby.

The Serengetti Plains lying away to the northwest of the crater holds its full share of animal life and here the sportsman has the widest possible choice of trophies. The Lion in this area holds full sway and is still to be seen in troops of from ten to twenty. Recently, Serengetti and Lion pictures have become synonymous. The commoner species of game are here in abundance and the plains are second only to the crater for game concentration. The country lying between the Grumeti River - Orangi River and the Mbalangeti from Lake Victoria to the Mou-Kilimafetha Road has recently been declared a game reserve.

Game animals that inhabit the northern area are well protected an'd their existence is assured to posterity by the great game sanctuaries and regulations which govern the Hunting or photographing of game.

In the Northern area there are six complete reserves and two closed areas. These are as follows:

(1) Kilimanjaro.

(2) Mount Meru.

(3) Lake Natron

(4) Northern Railway.

(5) Ngorongoro.

(6). Serengetti.

The closed areas are :

Pienaar's Heights, near Babati and Sangessa Steppe in the Kondoa district. The boundaries for these are laid down in the Game Preservation Ordinance No. 41 of 1921. There are, however, vast areas open to the hunter and the abovementioned sanctuaries do not in any way detract from the available sport which the Northern Tanganyika has to offer.

The following game licences are now in force (Shillings)

:Visitor's Full Licence - 1500

Visitor's Temporary Licence (14 days) - 200

Resident's Full Licence - 300

Resident's Temporary Licence (14 days) - 60

Resident's Minor Licence - 80

Giraffe Licence - 150

Elephant Licence 1st. - 400

2nd. - 600

To hunt the Black Rhinoceros in the Northern Province it is now necessary to hold a Governor's Licence, the fee for which is 150/-. This entitles the holder to hunt one male Rhinoceros. Elephant, Giraffe, and Rhinoceros Licences may only be issued to holders of full game licences.

Now that the Railway is through to Arusha it is not too much to hope that with the assistance of a healthy public opinion the Sanya Plains may become restocked with game which would be a great source of interest and an attraction to the traveller visiting these parts.

Road constructed through Ngorongoro

Ngorongoro could only be reached by foot until the first road was constructed from Oldeani (Kampi Nyoka) to the Crater rim, and thence to Balbal and the Serengeti in about 1932.

World's most magnificent Natural Game Reserve - Home of Countless Herds.

The world to-day is, for the most part, settled and civilised. The jaded town-dweller,seeking relief from jangled nerves, looks in vain at the merits of this or that tourist playground whose attractions are so temptingly displayed in muli-coloured pamphlets. Everywhere he sees the same jostle of civilization, the same unending stream of motor traffic, the same crowded beaches.

What he longs for is to get off the beaten track, to find a place where life flows gently by, where he can combine the charm of the unkown with the comfort which modern travel can bring ; where he can revel in the joys of 'safari', or rest his eyes on the illimitable vastness and grandeur of Africa's horizons ; where he can enjoy the invigourating crispness of Africa's highlands, vivid with sunshine, and sense the glory of the African night.

To such a man East Africa makes its confident appeal, offering him all and more than his heart desires. And in no part of East Africa is there to be found, combined within such a short range, so many of the delights of an African holiday as at Arusha. Nestling in delightful surroundings at the foot of Mount Meru (14,995ft), cooled by breezes from the ice-packs of Kilimanjaro (19,300ft), the highest mountain in Africa, and within easy reach of the world's greatest big-game districts, it is an ideal centre from which to see the real Africa.

It would take a book to describe the variety of sport to be had in the areas where shooting is permissible, and there is only space here to give a brief sketch of a typical safari starting from Arusha by car and motoring by way of Engaruka, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti plains.

Arusha itself may be reached by air, by road or by railway. Ten miles out of the town antelope, giraffe and zebra can often be seen. Forty miles further comes the first view of the Rift Wall, that great crack in the Earth's surface which cuts through Africa almost from north to south. Lake Manyara can be seen under the dark shadow of the Rift. At seventy miles out the road turns northwards along the Rift Valley through great herds of game to Engaruka. On the left there is the great wall of the Rift Valley, and away on the right is open undulating country, with many herds of game and Masai cattle sharing the grazing and living in harmony.

The green swamp and forest belt at Kitete conceals many buffalo and rhinoceros, and elephant and hippopotamus occasionally visit the place. To the right the plains are covered with hundreds of termite hills. Grant's gazelle, ostrich and impala will be seen on the way as well as giraffe, accompanied often by their young, who gaze with soft eyes at the car and sometimes allow it to pass within a few yards of them.

At Engaruka there are stone ruins of a great village where the inhabitants were perhaps once concentrated for defence against the Masai. On a frontage of about three miles tier upon tier of terracing is still clearly visible and closer inspection shows the rock-built homes, the graves and the huge cairns of a vanished people. From Engaruka Masai bomas may also be visited without difficulty.

During a stay of a week in this neighbourhood lion, zebra, Grant's and Thomson's gazelle, impala, wildebeest, rhinoceros, oryx and gerenuk may be obtained.

From here Maji Moto, sixty miles south along the Rift Wall, may be visited. The hot springs there seem to be a natural spa for wild life and there will be found spoor of elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion and all kinds of smaller game. The place is a game photographer's paradise.

Lake Manyara, seen from the hot springs, has a great variety of birds, including thousands of flamingoes. On from here the route lies over the Rift Wall up steep slopes to the Ngorongoro Crater.

The first view of the crater is magnificent ; it is one of the greatest in the world, the floor, twelve miles across, lies 2,000 feet below the precipitous walls, covering an area of approximately 100 square miles. The drive along to the Ngorongoro Crater Rest Camp is one thrill after another, each succeeding view of the crater being more beautiful than the last. Suddenly the most delightful camp is sighted-a group of about twenty log cabins, in the most wonderful natural setting. A night or two may be spent here* and the great concentration of game on the crater floor may be watched with glasses. Thousands of animals make their home in the crater throughout the year.

Then the way leads into the Serengeti Plains which may one day become the greatest national park in the world. In a stay of a few days in the Serengeti great concentrations of game will be seen, It is not uncommon for visitors to photograph as many as fifty different lions in a stay of only a few days, and the masses of game have to be seen to be believed.

On the return route the visitor can go to Mongalla, west of Oldeani Mountain, where hippopotamus, rhinoceros and other big game may be hunted, then pass through Mbulu, camp in the game area at Basotu Lake, go past Hanang Mountain and Babati Lake and so back into Arusha. Such a trip gives a month of enjoyment . which for the lover of wild life cannot be surpassed, and it is only one of many that can be made in the game areas of Tanganyika Territory, the finest hunting ground in the world.

National Parks Ordinance

From the turn off the Great North Road 50 miles south of Arusha, the route to Ngorongoro soon begins to lead down into the rift and a splendid view unfolds: the silver gleam of Lake Manyara to the left, the white encrusted cone of Ol Donyo Lengai ("Mountain of God"), a periodically active volcano, far away to the right and, beyond, the deep blue ridge of 9,000 ft hills, in which the Ngorongoro lies, forming the western wall of the Great Rift Valley. We cross the valley, here 20 miles wide, 3,500 ft above sea-level and sprinkled with giraffe, zebra, buck and other plains animals, including a few magnificent but seldom seen black-manned lion, and, unless we can spare the time for a visit to Lake Manyara where millions of rosy flamingos and pelicans vie for admiration with the elephant, buffalo and rhino which haunt its shores, pass through the little trading centre of Mto wa Mbu ("Mosquito River") and over the streams which give it its name, and climb out of the heat up the magnificent buttress of the west wall of the rift by a series of hairpin bends.

There follows a stretch of undulating park-like country and, just short of the European farming community of Oldeani, one turns right and one is almost immediately negotiating a mountain road twisting up the flank of thickly wooded gorges. Suddenly Ngorongoro bursts into view - there is no more apt phrase, for the road turns a corner and there at the side of the road the world end. At least so it seems until far below in a hazy golden glow, one sees the sunlit floor of the Crater or giant cauldron, and 15 miles away the pale mauve mountains of its further rim.

We awoke to a very misty morning - it was impossible to see even all the huts in the camp (there were a dozen or so). It was a bit damp and chilly, but we managed to produce a hot breakfast to help the day along. Last evening I had enquired about guides, and one turned up just before 10.

We were undecided as to what to do, so I went up to the office where the Game Warden had arrived. I discovered I had met him in Arusha, and we had a chat with him. He suggested that we went into the crater with a guide, (who thought it too much for the boys), where the weather would be better, then return in the afternoon and go out for a car ride after tea.

So we packed up sandwich lunch and set off with an African guide about 11am. It was still misty at the top, and for the first part, through long grasses, we could not see far. Eventually we came to a rough stony path going downhill all the time. To get into the crater meant going down about 2000 ft. Nearly half way down the mist began to clear and we could see into the Crater. The inside is about 15 miles x 20 miles, and is like a huge plain surrounded by hills. It seems strange to think that you are inside of a mountain. Big herds of game were roaming around on the plain and we were able to see lots of zebra and eland, some gazelle and rhino.

The boys found the going a bit difficult, so we stopped before the bottom for lunch. E. and the boys did not go any further, the last lap was hardest and D & P would have found it very difficult to get back. After lunch I went on further into the plain with the Guide and got fairly close to very large herds of zebra and eland - we hoped to see a rhino which had been around. But E. and the boys saw the rhino from where they were sitting.

When I returned with the Guide we all went up together and got back to the camp about 4.30. After a meal we went out in the car, along the road from the camp for about 7 miles. We thought we were not going to be lucky as on the way out we saw only one buffalo, but returning we saw 3 more fairly closely, then a large herd of them, a few zebras and some buck occasionally. There had been elephant about on previous evenings - but we saw none.

Over 200 families, of which 82 were Masai, were established on the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, growing maize and tobacco, diverting streams for irrigation and destroying vegetation. Apart from the Masai, none of these new arrivals could claim traditional rights of occupancy in the Park, and in 1954 their activities were banned. By the end of the year almost all the cultivation in the Park had ceased and most of the crop growers had been re-settled elsewhere.

It is not generally realised that in 1954 there were about 50 cultivating households in the Crater, comprising 67 adult males, 57 females and 119 children.

In addition to the village clustered round the old Siedentopf farm at Lerai - where the remains of the sisal hedges surrounding their fields can still be seen - settlements had sprung up at Koitoktok and the Lonyuki stream. Homes for these people were found outside the area and they were assisted by the Government in their move.

Likewise Empakaai crater was inhabited by 50 families, who were similarly moved, but infiltrated back again and in the period 1961 to 1965 presented a difficult problem to the Conservator, eventually solved by my successor.

[an]

Assistant District Office posted to Ngorongoro: his house is now the Kimba Lodge.

Lease of Trading Rights - Serengeti National Park

Tenders are invited for the lease of premises and the right to trade there from in the Serengeti National Park. The premises are:

1. Shop and living quarter at Ngorongoro Market

2. Shop and living quarter at Ondoldol

3. Shop and living quarter at Nainokanoka

The present Rights of Occupancy of Traders at the above mentioned places expire on 30th June 1954 and will not be renewed. The successful tenderer(s) will replace these Traders; and will be required to be ready to commence trading on 1st July 1954.

The subject of the Tender will be an annual renta Shs. 720/- per annum for the plot and premises thereon, together with an annual concession premium of Shs. 400/- payable quarterly in advance.

Copy of the relative form of Lease Agreement can be obtained from the Secretary P.O.Box 180, Arusha on payment of a fee of Shs. 5/-. Tenders in sealed envelopes clearly marked 'Tender for Trading Rights' must reach The Secretary, P.O.Box 180 Arusha not later than 5th June 1954.

G.H.Swynnerton, Chairman, Board of Management, Serengeti National Park. Arusha, 18th May 1954

We were up early on Sunday morning, and I decided to have breakfast first with the boys, and then leave them at the Rest House while I went out for the 8 am service. ...

then back to the Rest House for a quiet hour before packing up everything to go to the Ngorongoro Crater. Nothing had opened up for us to stay elsewhere in Oldeani, and as the Oldeani Rest House was only available for us up to Monday night, I decided to spend the next two nights up at the Crater, and come back to Oldeani district on Tuesday morning.

We left the Oldeani dukas about 4pm ... we had a good journey up to the Park entrance, and then got stuck with petrol trouble again at the gates where we stopped. This took a little time to clear so we were later getting up to the top than I had hoped. It was a fine afternoon, clear and sunny, so we had wonderful views of the Oldeani farms as we climbed the road up the crater hill taking us up to over 6,000 ft. We made all the hilliest part without any trouble, and the car pulled very well and rode very comfortably.

We stopped at the viewpoint looking down into the Crater, 7 miles from the camp - then had the old petrol trouble again. We were comforted this time by a passing car, whose occupants reported that they had had similar difficulties. We were helped a bit by them and then moved on, only to find our companions stuck within a hundred yards. They told us to carry on and when we saw them next morning they said that they took nearly two hours to get into the Camp and do the seven miles.

We arrived at the Camp site about 6.30 p.m. It was a fine evening and a moonlit night, which helped the atmosphere for settling in. We had a two bunk, single room to ourselves with a separate kitchen, not being shared while we were there. There was reasonably hot water on tap so we were glad to have a good bath. D & P were happy to play around for a while with a couple of other boys, which gave me a chance of getting unpacked and organising beds and a meal.

The Camp has grown since we were here last - more huts, including 'double-roomed, self contained' ones and a Club Room, with a lounge and bar! Also a large telescope to view the Crater from the doorway of the lounge. It’s almost too comfortable for a camp. Needless to say once we got sorted out all we bothered about was baths, supper and bed. The boys thoroughly enjoyed safari camping and tackled all meals with great gusto, existing on cocoa with mixed milk powder as the chief drink! The evening was clear and we could see into the Crater from our hut, which was much further down than the one we had before. We were glad of the fire in the hut, as later on the night became very cold. The boys seem to have slept well and warm, but I found a camp-bed on the floor a bit draughty. Wooden logs huts usually have a few cracks somewhere or other.

Monday morning David and Paul woke early and we were underway with a cooked breakfast by 7.30 am. It was the usual cold and misty morning of this time of the year at the Crater, though the mist often cleared and we got some good views of the Crater from 7 onward. The mist was moving all the time, but the whole of the camp site was always clear. ... Neither D nor P seemed concerned to go down into the Crater again, and David was anxious we should get out to see the Serengeti.

I saw the camp manager, Joe Salter, as we came in last night, and during the morning I saw Maj. Hewlett, the Game Warden. He said a trip along the road toward the Serengeti was possible and told me of a new track he was opening up into the crater, which we could take for about 4 miles. ...

We had a fairly substantial ‘elevenses’ and then went out from the Camp along the road towards the Serengeti Plains which could be seen in the distance after about 5 miles. At 7 miles out there was a good view point (Windy Gap) into the crater from a point much further round from the Camp site. We saw some Maasai folk here and tried to get photos also of the Crater. Just past this point was the new track which ran off the road for about 4 miles and took us further round into the Crater so that we were looking at it from the other end from the Camp. We came back from here and went on further to about 12 miles to what I suppose might be called the edge of the Serengeti, where the road straightened out and dropped more steadily and obviously just went on and on into a typically dusty desert-like African Plain. There were no lions!

We returned straight back to camp by about 2.30 p.m. and had a late lunch which was tackled heartily by the boys. Then we went out again along the Crater road in the Oldeani direction. ... we all got to bed early. It was much colder during this second night at the Crater.

It was fairly clear on Tuesday morning at the Camp. We had a good run down into Oldeani, misty in patches, though occasionally it cleared to give us views of the Oldeani farms. I found the turning off the crater road, which took us round the back of the farms on to the road that led down to the village shops. I reckon that I just about know my way around Oldeani now after about 6 or 7 visits though I still do not reckon to know who is on all the farms. From the Karatu end to the other end of the District well over 20 miles just along the road, and there are about 30 farms in the whole area. Many of them have their houses only a mile as the crow flies from their neighbour, but it is often more like 5 miles to get round by road and tracks.

We called at the Purchases ... after we left them, we stopped at the dukas for Lazaro’s benefit, and he decided to stay there until we came back for him late in the afternoon. Then we went on to Mrs Ching’s estate for lunch. .A new family has just come there, the Holton’s, and their daughter aged nine who was very pleased to have the company of other children for half a day.

Mrs Ching and Mrs Holton are both interested in ‘improving’ church servies when the new club is opened, and asked about making contributions of suitable items of furniture. They also asked if more regular servies might be provided in the future. I am wondering just how much they may be spurred on by the fact that the Afrikaans folk are having more regular visits from their minister now!

It was well on to 5 p.m. before we got away from here, and as I had decided to spend the next two nights at Karatu, we went straight over to there, there being as much as 20 miles to cover. The roads were pretty dusty especially around the farms, and some of the bends wanted watching. On one of them the dust was so thick that we practically skidded round an S-bend, and then the wind whipped up the dust we created and blew it right across the car so that it was literally falling down the front of the windscreen as if some one had emptied a bucket of dusty sand from the roof of the car.

We picked up Lazaro at the Oldeani dukas and then got over to Karatu after 6 - to find that the Rest House was deserted, and all locked-up, though fortunately the back door had been left unlocked. We were able to get in and unpack, but there was no boy around in charge, and so no ‘kuni’ (wood) for fires, and then to our dismay not water from the taps. We scrounged round for a little wood to light the bath fire, as we were able to do the cooking on the primus. Fortunately I had a good supply of drinking water available in the car to eke out for supper and breakfast if necessary. Judging from the next day it would seem that the water supply is off here at night for the present.

However we managed to get settled in and had a cooked meal, some kind of wash and then eventually to bed. David and Paul were very good over all this kind of thing and I never had a grumble from them the whole safari; occasionally they got a bit silly in their ways, but accepted all that came. Jolly good for them!

Conflict between Park Authorities and Maasai caused park to be split up. Maasai moved out of Serengeti Park, but not excluded from Ngorongoro

Sessional Paper No. 1 publishes Governments proposals re Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. This recommended the breakup of the Serengeti National Park into three smaller parks: Western Serengeti, Ngorongoro National Park, and Empakaai Crater Park.

three man Committee of Enquiry set up. Sir Ronald Sinclair (Chairman), Sir Landsborough Thomson, and Chief Humbi Ziota. In the event the Chairman was not available and replaced by Sir Barclay Nihill. Mr. F.J. Musthill also joined. Evidence from many people, including Prof Pearsall, commissioned by the Fauna Preservation Society to represent the British case. His report, based an a two month visit to the area in Nov-Dec 1956 in effect formed the scientific basis of the recommendations of the Committee.

Filled up with petrol at Karatu. Off about 11.30. Took it slowly up to Ngorongoro Crater, stopping three times for engine to cool down. First at gate where we had lunch, then on way and at Wilkies Point. Arrived at camp about 3.30, and got unpacked and settled in two huts with good views. ... when we went to see if boys OK saw a buffalo under their window, and later saw him in car headlights.

Trip to Ngorongoro Crater floor. Left camp 7.45. Drove 25 miles round rim of crater, wonderful scenery. In crater we saw hundreds of wildebeest and zebra, also baboons, hyenas, jackals, foxes, cheetahs, gazelle (all sorts), lioness and cubs which were driven out of cover and was most exciting - water buck. Lots of birds of all sorts and rhino. Back same way, leaving crater about 2 p.m. and getting to camp soon after 4.

To see D.O. [District Officer] Mr and Mrs Ashby 4 miles on in lovely position on crater rim. ... went for a picnic to Windy Gap. On the way saw zebra and 12 ostriches who were most amusing. At gap we saw more zebra and wildebeest. Back, ... bed for Colin, and then for a drive with others along top - saw buffalo quite close.

African doctor near the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.

Eastern Serengeti, including Ngorongoro, made a conservation area. Extensions added to the Serengeti in the north and south

Authority ground to a halt - meetings suspended. Chairman (a young DO) was in no position to persuade either his technical colleagues to display more patience, or the Maasai to accept some small measure of change.

Huxley, Sir Julian prepares a report to UNESCO entitled The Conservation of Wildlife and Natural Habitats in Central and East Africa. Suggested establishment of an advisory board.

Report to UNESCO entitled The Conservation of Wildlife and Natural Habitats in Central and East Africa. Suggested establishment of an advisory board.

First impressions are important. We were looking down the crater wall into the huge saucer-shaped dish before us, and Douglas voiced my own worry as well as his. 'But where are all the animals?'

Alan and Joan scoffed, and pointed them out. It was as if the focusing of our eyes had been at fault, and had then made the necessary correction. Quite suddenly, hundreds of dots became animals. The perspective of the crater had misled us. It was 12 miles across, capable of holding the bulk of London, and yet there was nothing in it to indicate this huge size. Admittedly, there were trees and a lake and steep walls at the edge, but nothing that immediately gave the dimensions away. I had encountered this difficulty in Africa before, of being presented with some vast view, and being given nothing with which to measure it, no road tapering into the distance, no house or village, no finite feature to make the rest comprehensible. At Ngorongoro this effect was most striking. Douglas and I floundered in our lack of judgment Were those bushes, or trees, on that slope? Was that wall 200 feet high, 1,200 feet, or 2,200 feet, or even more? It was quite remarkable how many illusions could exist when there was nothing really concrete on which to base one's estimations.

Field-glasses are satisfactory when confronted by this kind of spectacle. not just because they bring everything nearer, but because they destroy all misconceptions. Douglas and I could not see those wildebeest to begin with because we were not looking for ants, and our eyes glanced fleetingly over them. Through fieldglasses one looks for shapes, and shapes are therefore recognized, irrespective of their size. Even so, that crater appeared a most remarkable phenomenon.

It is the largest crater in the world. Its walls are steep, between 2,000 and 3,000 feet high, and it encloses an area of some 130-140 square miles - according to where it is reckoned that the crater floor ends, and the walls begin. No one knows how it came to be, for normal craters do not approach this size. A strong theory is that it used to be a tall volcanic mountain, with the 12-mile diameter being the size of its base. Then, due to some collapse of the Earth beneath it, the whole top fell inwards to form the saucer-shaped structure of today. The surrounding area is still volcanic, and the many mountains near by such as Meru and Kilimanjaro are extinct volcanoes with their subsidiary blow holes dotted about them. There is also one active mountain, the conical 0l Doinyo L'Engai. This sprouts out of the Rift Valley to the north-east of Ngorongoro, and becomes active in a minor way once every seven years or so. All this volcanic activity was fairly recent, but Ngorongoro is as inactive as they come.

'Hands off once more.'

The wind carried us, but parallel to the ground.

'On again,' and fifteen pairs of Wambulu hands brought the basket to a stop, which is more than happened to the Wambulu talk. The chatter, about whether or not, and why and how, the balloon would rise was no momentary curiosity. It had continued unceasingly since Douglas had turned on the gas, and was now reaching a fanatic crescendo. One man stopped, for a second or two, as I poured 5 Ib. of sand on to his feet, and then Bill shouted again.

'Toa mkono. Hands off.'

The 5 Ib. had been enough. We rose, almost vertically to begin with, and the trail rope uncoiled as we went. I remember seeing Bill's small child catching hold of a still dormant section of it. I shouted something, and then watched that same section flick mercifully out of his hands. By then we were out of shouting distance, and another flight had begun. It was at this sort of stage that Douglas would push whatsoever cap he had on further to the back of his head and make some general observational point, like: 'Well, we made it.'

Indeed, we had made it, but away from the crater. At the end of ten minutes we were about a mile from the crater's lip, and 400 feet up, and quite motionless.

.. .. Despite that manoeuvre with the trail-rope and our initial stabilization at only 400 feet, we next began to rise quite steadily, though keeping station over one huge pillar tree all the while. Douglas was vexed at seeing the land recede further and further from him, and screwed longer and longer lenses to his cameras; but there was nothing else that could be done. Anyway, those clouds above us were moving in the right direction, crater-wards, and we would surely go that way once we had risen to then height. As I had no intention of going higher than need be and of making certain that we caught the very bottom of that airstream, I threw out no sand. The present tendency to rise would get us there in the end. This was inevitable, for the more we climbed that day, the more the sun shone upon us. There must have been a mist down there above the trees, or at least a greater and invisible humidity of the air, for as we rose the sun grew hotter and the air became brighter. The hydrogen responded to this increased radiation and expanded accordingly. So, with the launch site still in view, but becoming increasingly fuzzy as time ticked by, we rose with all the simplicity in the world above that incredible view.

To one side, now appearing small for the first time in our experience, was the Ngorongoro Crater. North of it were the steep rolling areas of the Crater Highlands, peeked with volcanoes like Embagai, and rising to 10,000 feet or more. Appearing still higher even than our basket was the active L'Engai, not smoking but flecked with white at the summit as if it were the conical roosting place of some monstrous and productive form of bird. Some 40 miles to the east of us was the big cliff drop to the Rift Valley, the Manyara lake, and the wide traverse of our previous endeavour. To the south were just hills and a lake and more hills, and a promise of at least 3,000 more miles before the massive continent comes to an end at the Cape. I do not fully understand the desires involved and of wishing to be levitated above the face of the Earth, but up in that basket at 10,500 feet above sea-level I felt supremely content. I shifted my feet, gazed fondly at Loolmalasin and Oldeani and then looked round at the others.

'Good view,' said Douglas.

Down below, our dot of a shadow then began moving towards the crater. It danced over the big forest trees; it went more gently over the open grassy zones. Then it crossed that rugged rim road and took no time to cover the remaining stretch before the wall began. Down it slid, over trees, and rocky buttresses, and steep slopes. Down to the gentler gradients, and then more slowly over the crater floor itself. Without so much as a puff of wind on our faces, we had in ten minutes made in the air a journey that would have taken a mere pedestrian on the ground many hours. We had arrived over Ngorongoro.

It may have been like tobogganing for our shadow, but for us it was nothing of the sort. Our shadow had leapt down to the crater floor and had become even more of a pin-head in doing so, but we had continued at the same old height where we had met the airstream from the east. We were still 10,500 feet above sea level, while the shadow was now over a mile below.

This was aerial observation of animals to some degree, but not the one we wanted. It was like examining pond water before the days of the microscope. We had to take a rather closer look. Allowing for the direction of the sun, I waited until the shadow indicated we were some g miles within the crater. Then I pulled for three seconds on the valve line, and almost at once a breeze pushed past our faces. At 300 feet a minute we made our descent. It was fast, and roughly the speed of a parachutist, but we had plenty of time to watch the changing shapes of that remarkable piece of geography. The flatness beneath us became steadily less so, and the distant hills sank like so many setting suns behind the crater wall. After nearly 10 minutes, and when 1,000 feet above the ground, I threw out two hands of sand to break the fall. Later I threw out two more, and once again we were poised a mere 400 feet above the world.

We hovered momentarily over the general swampy area around the Goitokitok spring, and had a look at some hippos walking through the reeds. Over to the west and south were the main herds of animals, but over to the west and south we did not go. We stayed over those reeds for a very short time, and then retained in the general direction from whence we had come. The only difference was our height. This time the crater wall was not a diminutive thing thousands of feet below, but a huge tree covered mountain coming our way. It seemed that the arena all around us was being heated by the sun, and the air was expanding up its sides. We were certainly in an airstream that was moving up the wall, for shortly afterwards, with no sand-throwing by me, we were ascending that face like a funicular. The huge mossy trees were 50 feet below, and less than 50 feet to one side. John rattled off their names whenever the bigger ones bulged up towards us, and Douglas did what he could with a countryside that had suddenly stood on edge. I was not flying the balloon in any active sense. I was just bemused by watching a 2,000-foot wall disappear beneath us.

At the top, with the trail rope still searing at the trees which had just passed by, we slid over the rim and the rim road at a casual 20 miles an hour. Thereafter, never more than a hundred feet above the ground, we descended still eastwards over the gender slope that led away from the crater's edge. We were too low to see anything of the ground party, and so looked out instead for animal life. I think all of us saw the buffaloes at the same time, and all said 'Look!' together. I heard the camera click while they were still lolling on their backs, and then every one of them leapt to its feet. With a great crashing of the undergrowth and of everything standing in their way, they set off at a mild gallop.

For some reason, possibly because it was downhill, they ran directly beneath us. They were head to tail and, like so many express trains, moved through the tangle below. Each file of animals, each set of carriages, took its own independent path, but frequently the files converged upon each other. Fresh files formed, with nothing more than a rending and a breaking as bushes were swept before the chaise.

'Keep after them,' said Douglas, 'this is excellent stuff,' and we did, miraculously, keep after them for a full two minutes. Then they verged away, and we were left in silence once again.

It was while we were thinking we would go directly over three elephants standing by a pool, and while still at 100 feet, that a powerful thermal took hold of the balloon with all its might Instantly, the trail rope was flicked up beneath us as we soared into the sky. This was no gentle rise, as we had known over Manyara. This was far more drastic. In perhaps a minute we were 3,000 feet above those trees and those now invisible elephants. Above us was the familiar base of a thunder-cloud, and this time there would be no dallying beneath it. This time we would be in it, if strong counter-measures were not taken.

I pulled for five seconds on the valve line. We still went up. I pulled for another five, and once again we heard the slight sucking sound as the gas went out. The balloon was now distinctly pouchy at the bottom, but we were still rising, and over 9,000 feet above sea-level. I pulled for another five, and watched the bottom panels withdraw inwards again as the gas rushed out of the top. At last the altimeter showed we were rising no more, but the air of the thermal still blew past us. I remember John taking some silver paper off a piece of chocolate, and then having that paper blown vertically out of his hand. All the time, for we were stationary in a strong current, we rocked about like any dinghy in a choppy sea.

'What happens when we get out of this thermal?' asked John, who hit nails on heads with disarming ease.

'We shall go down, fast,' I replied.

'Very fast,' I added, a few seconds later as the bucketing increased.

'Uh-huh,' said Douglas.

Sure enough, the thermal did move itself elsewhere. Then, dropping like any stone, we achieved a speed of descent I had never known before. There was no time to read an instrument. What did it matter if it were two or three thousand feet per minute? To hit the ground at either speed would be equally fatal. John and I bailed out sand in great dollops at a time. Then half sackfulls. Then more dollops, and more fumbling around in the bottom of the basket for more sacks. Our speed slackened slightly, but we couldn't just throw everything overboard. To have been excessive with that sand would surely have sent us up towards the thunder-cloud again, with every opportunity of repeating the episode, and with far less chance of having enough sand afterwards, to break the second plummet-like fall. Yet to be parsimonious with the sand was equally uncalled for. I think this will have to be the landing,' I said. 'Right,' said Douglas, and went on filming.

'More sand, John. Yes, that's right. Now more, yes the rest of that sack. Get up another. Now wait with it. Hold it ready. Yes, tip out half, and now the rest. Yes, this is the landing. Douglas, this is it.'

And down we went. This was no occasion for choosing a spot. The trail rope must have touched the ground just as we were reaching the tallest trees. I do not know how we missed them. We seemed to be going where a tree had fallen. I could see its long trunk lying there. And its upturned roots. And then it was time to rip. But there wasn't time. Because we hit the ground, and stayed there.

The balloon had not toppled over, and the three of us were standing there quite over-towered by plants. I pulled at the rip, but the rope just came down in my hands. Soon its end came, showing where it had torn free from the rubber fabric. Why, I had no idea. It meant we had a three-quarters full balloon, swaying back and forth at the branches above us, 'John, what's that tree? Is it spiky?'

'Oh, that! Good Lord, no! Not a spike on it. That's Cassipourea elliottii. Certainly no spikes.'

Puncture material or not, that tree was not doing the balloon any good as the two of them were blown at each other. So I attached a rope from the basket to the fallen tree beside it, and then felt everything was sufficiently safe for me to climb out. The other two stayed in as ballast while I had a look at the situation from somewhere better than the neck-creaking angle of the basket's viewpoint. A soup plate leaf touched my arm, and thousands of vegetative ampules injected their contents into me. It was a nettle patch of immense size in which we had landed. It was also a major highway for ants, and their formic acid produced its own even sharper sensation when they rammed it home. Consequently, John and Douglas did not see a man coolly taking stock of an awkward situation. Instead, they caught glimpses of flailing limbs which lashed out from the green depths of that poisonous neighbourhood.

At least I had seen that there was nothing else to be done except pull on the valve line. It was the only way of losing the gas. I had thought it might be possible to reach the valve itself from higher up the bank, but the ant-nettle combination had reduced enthusiasm for that plan. So we pulled on it steadily, and gradually Jambo began to sink towards the earth.

We were, when everything had been collapsed, spread out on one steep slope with an audible but invisible stream somewhere at the bottom. The three of us cut down clubs with which to clout those nettles, and folded up the balloon and net as best we could while suffering the various slings and arrows of the environment. It was a very real piece of forest. There were no animal tracks, and even the buffaloes had let it be. It was impossible to move without thwacking down everything that stood in the way. It was also fairly difficult even to stand up, for the earth that supported all this growth was a rich, humus-laden mud. In short, our cavortings in the air were as nothing compared with those manoeuvres on the ground. However, in the end, everything did get stacked inside the basket, and we were ready to leave. We had only a vague idea of our position, but we knew that the rim road was somewhere up the slope.

On the following day 3, passing truck brought us our mail. .. ..

The letters were far more disturbing. That one treasury clerk had a lot to answer for. The story of the crash, and then the customary newspaper practice of printing minute denials, had caused many repercussions. People wanted to know what had happened, why the gas had exploded, whether the balloon had been at fault, whether it was true that we were uninjured, and if this was some form of cover story to conceal the real one. There was also news from Nairobi that the compressor situation was not as well as it should be, and from Arusha that the transport firm would not be able to collect our cylinders from the Saleh site, now that rain had fallen there. In short, it was time that I paid another visit to town. It is excellent living under a fig-tree but, administratively, it has its drawbacks.

Hugh and I took off at 1 p.m. on the following day, and flew first over that Athi area. It was generally flat, but frequently there came deeply eroded gullies, exciting to look at, but depressing in their destruction. There was such a tenuous relationship between man, the animals and the rest of nature when nineteenth and twentieth-century man moved in to the area that disruption of the old order was inevitable. The great scars beneath us were the wounds of over-grazing. The red rivers were flowing with soil, and making this particular circle as vicious as any other.

Beyond the plains was the Rift Valley. There is nothing else like it on the surface of the Earth, but this section near Nairobi was different to the Manyara bit now indelibly engraved on at least three minds. Instead of one big cliff wall, there were many cliffs, each perpendicular, and each dropping the level of the land down another couple of hundred feet. Down in the bottom there was Lake Magadi, and then Lake Natron. Both are soda lakes, with the Magadi one being exploited. A special railway carries the soda away, and has a difficult time among those cliffs. No child ever takes his model railway up the stairs, but the Magadi track does just that, and must cover ten times the distance, from beginning to end, that actually separates the two points. It cannot emulate the crow, as we did, and as we began the long climb towards the Crater Highlands.

It was a most fantastic journey, for after the geological contortions of the Rift Valley, there came the 9443 feet peak of L'Engai, the area's active volcano. We edged noisily by its silent summit. The top looked something like the old glass type of orange squeezer, with a smaller pointed cone coming from the middle. Its sloping sides are as steep as its rocky lava will allow, and the way up is difficult. The mountain can be climbed but, like Mount Kilimanjaro which is not so far away, any climber has to take advantage of the chilliest hours when the loose and difficult scree is held together by frost. I think it important to see active volcanoes from time to time. They are most blatant reminders that we live our days on the thin crust of a planet which has by no means settled down from its fiery birth.

Shortly after nudging past L'Engai's cone, the Mountain of God according to the Masai, we were over the wide sweeps of the Crater Highlands. These link together several dead volcanoes, with Ngorongoro being one of them. Embagai is another, perhaps the most beautiful for it is well proportioned, with its woody sides leading down to a deep and permanent lake. And then we were over the final wall, and swooping about above Ngorongoro. We could see no sign of the others and, after buzzing the empty camp beneath the tree, landed near by. The animals had scattered on our first pass over the chosen area, and did not run in the way of the final touch down.

Hugh switched off the engine, and we climbed out into that remarkable place. I do not think one could ever cease to be amazed at it, but arriving in one hour and thirty minutes from Nairobi heightens its qualities most dramatically. Animals are all around, and beyond are the dots of countless more, and beyond them are those towering walls. At no time of the day does the crater look the same as at any other moment. Huge shadows retreat as the day advances, and then slink down again when the sun loses its power. It has all the symmetry of a perfect shape, and all the wonder of an untouched world. Like a ruin it combines the merits of having been created, and then having reverted to something finer still. It is a place of fabulous beauty.

Lions in Ngorongoro reduced to 15 by plague of biting flies

A grant of £182,000 had been made from the Fund - it runs out in 1964 - to get the Conservation area going, and experts had drawn up a Management Plan. This aim of this is:

to conserve and develop the natural resources of the whole Area (including water, soil, flora and fauna) so as to provide a stable environment for the human occupants and the animal occupants, domestic and wild, thereby retaining the existing residents rights and promoting the national interest by conserving the Area's unique tourist attraction, aesthetic value and scientific interest.

An unimpeachable aim - more briefly to have your cake and eat it. The plan runs to 160 pages and is full of sound projects and useful information, not all of it reassuring. The success of any plan depends on the staff who will carry it out, and Ngorongoro staffing has never been adequate either in numbers or in quality. Good work has been done, bold projects launched, but in fits and starts. In other words, all has not been plain sailing. Nor has the conflict between the Masai on one hand, and wild life, forests, rivers and the outside world on the other, been resolved.

[Fosbrooke, Henry] For the next three years I was resident at Ngorongoro

By historical accident the residences of the senior officers were scattered over a distance of 17 miles along the rim:

The Assistant Conservator (Game) living in what is now Forest Resort (Dhillon's Lodge), and

The Assistant Conservator (Forests) having his dwelling and his nurseries at the Old Boma, now Kimba Lodge.

I had 'inherited' two permanent houses and a permanent office built for the Authority by the P.W.D. on the present headquarters site. ... Appreciating the fact that permanent building were undesirable near the road, I permitted no more in that vicinity, concentrating on timber structures which could be salvaged when replaced by other buildings on a new site

Alexander set up his safari operation at his home near Nanyuki. John was flexible enough to tailor safaris exactly to the needs and pockets of his clients. One of his clients was near stone broke Dian Fossey, who much later attained recognition as a gorilla expert. In 1963 Dian Fossey was staying at the Mount Kenya Safari Club at Nanyuki, and she introduced herself to one of the owners of the club, William Holden. Fossey told Holden she was looking for a white hunter to take her on a private safari through East Africa. Was there someone he might recommend? Holden knew a man on the mountain he thought might be suitable named John Alexander. Fossey talked John into a you-bring-the-coffee, I'll-bring-the-sandwiches low-budget outing. When starry-eyed Fossey first met Alexander, then fortyish, she was the ultimate naive greenhorn in the wilds of Africa.

John, his complexion now ruddy from years in the sun, and his fair hair by now receding, had always had an eye for the ladies. Recently divorced, he was not inclined to turn down any safari work. Even with Fossey's limited budget Alexander nevertheless consented to take her on a tour, and guided her on what is generally regarded as the East African "milk run," an easy route taken by package tourists on their first trip to Africa. John took Dian to see Tsavo park, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti Plains, and Olduvai Gorge, where he introduced her to anthropologists Mary and Louis Leakey.

Alexander later recalled Fossey with considerable distaste, not just because she was a heavy smoker and drinker, which he considered none of his business, but because he thought Fossey "moody" and a "bit neurotic." Alexander claimed that at the time of their meeting Fossey had never before even heard of mountain gorillas'

Still, Alexander agreed to take Fossey on another safari, this time through Uganda and into the Congo to the Albert national park (now the Muhuavura national park). In neighboring Rwanda over this period, two tribes, the WaTutsi and the BaHutu, were killing each other in the thousands; the first years of genocide were barely reported to the international press. Zaire was also far from safe, with murderous soldiers roaming the countryside.

Despite the tribal unrest and general chaos then prevalent in Zaire, Alexander and Fossey continued with their safari into the eastern part of the country. At the village of Rumangabo they had hoped to pick up park rangers to act as guides. The only accommodation available was an old shed and it was here Fossey propositioned Alexander. "Here we've been three weeks on safari," she said. "We could have shacked up together and had a hell of a good time. "

Alexander apologetically turned her down explaining that he was already engaged. After being rebuffed Fossey despised Alexander, according to Harold T. P. Hayes, her biographer. Behind his back she began referring to John as "The Great White.""

... the grant of £182,000 had been made to Tanganyika to enable the country to put into effect the recommendations of the Serengeti Committee. ... Where the money was to come from beyond June 1964, when the grant expired, no one knew. ... In retrospect it was fortunate that my idea of a self-accounting Authority was turned down, [because the Park could not generate enough revenues for itself - much if the benefit is indirect, e.g. to hotels and tour operators] although at the time no alternative was proposed. We just drifted along, drawing our funds from Colonial [sic] Development and Welfare: but this scheme was due to close on 30 June 1994. When the deadline drew near, the Government of Tanzania (as it had then become) manfully accepted its responsibilities and agreed to carry the costs of the Conservation Unit.

While we can always guarantee that you will see thousands of animals, it is more a matter of luck to witness interesting game incidents or even to see some of the rarer species. For instance, the lion-and-Rhino battle on August Seventh, which was reported in detail in the October issue of Ngorongoro's Bulletin. For the benefit of those who did not read the bulletin this is what happened: on August Seventh, an extremely interesting incident concerning a Rhino and a lion was observed in the crater by Licenced Guide Shehe. At 10.30 a.m. a lion tried to kill a Rhino, Felicia's eleven-month-old calf. Felicia who lives to the north of Lake Makat is rather hostile normally, and when her off-spring was in danger she was quite fierce. The lion managed to separate the calf from the mother. The calf ran away and the lion gave chase, with Felicia lumbering behind in hot pursuit, bellowing loudly. The calf circled back towards its mother, and Felicia immediately engaged the lion. The lion grabbed her by the hind leg and clawed and chewed her thigh viciously. Felicia wheeled round and gored the lion twice in the centre of the ribs. The lion rolled over paralysed by the tremendous blows. She then gored him in the neck, in the head and trampled him to death in a matter of minutes. Two other lions had sat by during the entire incident and kept a respectable distance. Within forty minutes of the killing the carcass was eaten clean by hyaenas. It is understood that a party of visitors from West Germany was lucky enough to film or to photograph the whole act.