Describing the Ngorongoro Crater as one-of-a-kind almost feels redundant. Nothing in the known universe parallels its magnificence. Following a bountiful Neptune breakfast, we embark on a journey with our Bush 2 City Adventure Safari Guide, ascending to this unparalleled wonderland.

This is the Africa Peter Matthiessen so eloquently captured in The Tree Where Man Was Born. He described it as “a glimpse of the earth’s morning [that gives] a sense of origins, of innocence and mystery, like a marvelous childhood facility restored.”

In these pages, I wish to acknowledge the elephants, moving together “like black stone sculptures of the four major prophets,” as seen through the eyes of Isak Dinesen, and the giraffes, floating by with their “queer, inimitable, vegetative gracefulness.” To the lions basking in their unrivaled realm, the Cape buffalo grazing attentively—each as nimble as they are massive—and the cheetahs, ever ready for a sprint, coiled like sentient springs, I owe my deepest appreciation.

I am equally in awe of the elusive leopards, the throngs of wildebeest—an almost comical assembly of spare parts—and the massive, dainty, harrumphing hippos. These creatures, often seen on screens, are almost beyond belief when witnessed in reality. Matthiessen pondered, “How did the hippopotamus find its way up into the Crater Highlands, to blunder into the waters of Ngorongoro?” Today, they are seen there with wonder, encircled by steep walls.

To the natural world of the Ngorongoro Crater and all its inhabitants, thank you for restoring our sense of origins, innocence, and mystery.