when we shared the road with water-carrying donkeys.
Dropping down over the rim and descending 1640 feet to the crater floor meant that we were going steeply downhill.
And then came on to the flat floor where we followed the trails to see the animals.
In some areas there were large chunks of volcanic rock, deposited when the volcano erupted some 2 million years ago.
The crater was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. Near the middle of it is a huge soda lake. We were here during the last month of the dry season so the lake was very large.
When we first stood at the crater rim, I thought it didn't look very big and that it was mostly dry but once we got down, there were several different watering holes, water spots and little streams. And the terrain was more varied than I initially thought.
We entered the crater from the west side where the rainfall is about 20 inches per year but on the southeastern corner, it can be double that amount. This results in very different vegetation within the crater itself.
And the acacia thorn trees were there too. You won't find any giraffes in the crater - there's not enough food for them and the sides of the crater are too steep for them to come down. Amazing info, hey!
Chris said eating lunch in the forest was not a good idea because the baboons were such a nuisance, trying to steal lunches.
The bark on these fevertree acacias was very interesting.
And that took us over to the road leading out, again a one-way road.
You can see the road going back into the forest.
And then we started the switchbacks to get up and out! We didn't count how many there were but it took more than half an hour to get to the top. The gates are closed at 6 p.m. and reopen at 6:30 a.m. and Chris was always aware of being out on time.
It was quite amazing how quickly we climbed out, especially when we looked back at where we'd come from!
And once again we shared the road!
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