Ngorongoro

There are some places you need to get to know before you love them; and then there are some places you love immediately. For me, with Ngorongoro it was instantaneous.

For two weeks I had the opportunity to travel throughout the Ngoronogoro District (home to the Serengeti and the majestic Ngorongoro Crater) conducting research on infectious disease surveillance in the animal and human health sectors. The district is a vast, spread-out area, and while most tourists simply hit the park and the Crater, I had the chance to see its varied and expansive landscapes.

From the moment we drove into the district, near the arid and brown plains near Lake Natron, I felt right at home. Something about the desolateness reminded me of Colorado...who knew rocky, wind swept landscapes could make you feel so at home? Despite the sparseness of the landscape, its simple rawness was striking...as were the thousands of flamingos for whom Lake Natron is a breeding site.

After visiting a few health dispensaries and livestock field officers, we started climbing over hills (one on which we very nearly got stuck) and I watched as the great Rift Valley spread out below us.

A couple of days later we headed to Loliondo, the capital of the district. It's a higher elevation there and the thin, crisp air once again made me feel like I was back in the Rocky Mountains. Something about the place just felt indescribably like being on a long, adventurous camping trip & I loved it.

During the day we spent a lot of time in the SACIDS Land Cruiser, covering huge swaths of territory in an effort to visit every ward in the district. Bouncing down dirt paths that pass as roads, with green pastures zooming by on either side and a luminous, expansive blue sky above me, it occurred to me that this is one of the places I am most content; most happy...on an open road, with nothing but possibility in front of me.

Our last stop was the area in and around the Ngorongoro Crater, known as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Below is a few pictures from the trip, including one of the incredible Ngorongoro Crater. I've seen some beautiful places in my life, and the Crater quite simply left me speechless. It was breathtaking (and the picture definitely does not do it justice).