Tanzania Day Eight: A Scenic Drive To The Ngorongoro Highlands
After our morning hike, and a delicious breakfast, our group left the Burunge Tented Camp and headed for the Ngorongoro Highlands. These highlands surround the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater, formed by a massive ancient volcano. We would spend two nights at the Ngorongoro Farm House near the entrance to the crater. It was about a 100 mile, two-hour drive to the farmhouse and we set out under threatening cloudy skies. 
We soon came to a local roadside market place. We stopped to take a look.
The local villagers were selling all types of goods, including fruits, vegetables, livestock and native craft work. 
I enjoyed the sights sounds and smells of the busy marketplace. 
Local foods were being prepared and sold.
I wish I hadn’t had such a large breakfast or I would have tried some. 
After exploring the marketplace, we were soon on the road again heading west to the mountains in the distance. Our driver provided us with information about the native history and culture as we drove.
We drove past many small markets similar to the ones we visited earlier in the morning.
Along the way we stopped for some souvenir shopping at a local artwork specialty store. I am not a big shopper. I had visited this store on my last trip to the Serengeti but I still picked up some local art for the family back home. 
We next drove to a small town where we stopped to visit an orphanage.
The kindly woman who operates the orphanage , Angela Chabai, was a compassionate soul who provided for children who lost their parents through disease and accidents.
We were greeted by these adorable children who grasped out hands and led us to a classroom where they sang songs for us . We soon joined in. Seeing these smiling children, having experienced such great loss, brought tears to my eyes thinking about the tragedies suffered in my own life. Here is a link to a video I uploaded to my YouTube Channel. https://youtu.be/-gC3SYGZF7g Donations could be made to help these children by contacting Angela at the link provided above. 
It was now mid-afternoon when we continued our journey to our lodgings for the evening. We drove upward to the highlands that overlooked the Serengeti plane to the west. This is a link to some more photographs from our scenic drive to the Ngorongoro Highlands. Tanzania Day Eight. Drive to Ngorongoro Farm House. October 5 2019. 
When we arrived at the Ngorongoro Farm House the clouds were thick and the air cool at these elevations even though we were a few hundred miles from the equator. 
After checking in at the front office we were led through the beautifully landscaped gardens to our rustic but comfortable cabins.
I took a quick walk around the grounds of this old coffee plantation.
The clouds and late afternoon light was not the best for photographing the many birds visiting the beautiful flower and vegetable gardens surrounding the cabins. 
I soon learned that the farmhouse is just that, an active farm that still produces coffee, 
and many other vegetables for use in the dinning room at the restaurant or sold at local markets.
I followed some of the trails through the surrounding fields looking and saw many species of birds.
I was not able to identify most of them but they were colorful.
Unfortunately as I stated above the light was very good for photography. 
I was still able to get some photographs before darkness set in.
Once it got to dark to see anything I returned to my room, unpacked, showered and dressed for dinner. I wanted to eat early but a the clouds that threatened rain all day opened up and unleashed a torrential tropical rain. I waited the rain out and made a dash to the dining room once it slowed down. Here is a link to a video I uploaded of the tropical rainstorm. https://youtu.be/AO9rSdGhsb0 .This is a link to a gallery with more photographs from my evening at the farmhouse lodge. Tanzania Day Eight Ngorongoro Farm House lodge evening. October 5 2019. 
After a nice meal at the dining room I returned to my room and fell asleep under the mosquito netting listening to the African rains. 
“On every travel, we saw beautiful landscapes.”
―
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