February 9, 2011
Black Rhino in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

The fourth day of my safari in Tanzania, and our third full day in Ngorongoro Crater, was named The Day of the Rhino.

The day started off well because we spotted our second serval. It was too dark to photograph it as it was running away, but it's always nice to see one of these elusive cats.

We spent a good part of the morning watching an old female black rhinoceros about 50 yds (45m) from the road. (Driving off-road is not permitted in the crater, so while game viewing is spectacular, photography is a bit more limited.) When we first arrived, she was standing up in a fairly open location which was good for photography. After she laid down to rest, we waited and ate our boxed breakfast. It started getting warm and heat waves started to build, and we left after the rhino stood up and walked further from the road where photography wasn't very good. We drove around the crater a bit and photographed some other species, then returned to the rhino. She had moved much closer to the road and was in a better location. Then she walked right towards the road and crossed about 15 yds (13m) behind our vehicle — a rhino encounter in the crater doesn't get much better than that! Based on that experience, and all of the other better-than-average opportunities that we had had, we started calling this photo safari the "Premium Option Tour."

One of our last encounters on the floor of the crater was our third serval. It was right next to the road, but we were blocked from photographing it by vehicles that were already in position. Still, three serval sightings on a single safari is exceptional!

On our way out of the crater, we stopped to photograph a lioness dragging a baby wildebeest towards the road. We got some great images as she came closer and closer, and it confirmed our description of this being a "Premium Option Tour."

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