Ngorongoro Crater Tours

Overview

Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is an extensive highland area along the eastern arm of the Rift Valley, with the renowned Ngorongoro Crater as its central point. Not a national park in the strict sense of the word, the NCA was established to conserve wildlife and other natural resources, as well as to safeguard the interests of indigenous people and promote tourism. Thus, guests on safari have the unique experience of seeing Masai herdsmen whose cattle graze side by side with the tremendous variety of wildlife found in the area.

Unmatched for its natural diversity, there are few places on earth where such a remarkable diversity of landscapes exist. Aside from its wildlife possessions, the conservation area is also of great archaeological substance, boasting with remains of some mankind’s earliest ancestors in the area.

Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest collapsed volcanic crater in an exceptional geographical position, forming a spectacular bowl of about 265 sq km with sides up to 600m deep. This 14km of isolated natural beauty and often called ‘the Eden of Africa’, is surrounded by a ring of extinct volcanoes and its floor, dotted with watering holes, shelters close to 30,000 animals.

At about 20km wide, Ngorongoro is one of the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world. The crater floor consists of a number of ecological environments that include grassland, swamps, forests and Lake Makat, a central soda lake filled by the Munge River. All these habitats attract wildlife to graze here. In fact, the crater floor is one of the most densely crowded game areas in the world. The open grassland makes it easy to monitor, so it is also a stronghold for endangered species like black rhino and cheetah.

Ngorongoro is one of East Africa’s most visited destinations. It is because of this that it’s a big draw card for tourists coming to Tanzania. Within the crater rim, large herds of zebra and wildebeest graze nearby while sleeping lions laze in the sun. At dawn, the endangered black rhino returns to the thick cover of the crater forests after grazing on dew-laden grass in the morning mist. Just outside the crater’s ridge, tall Masai herd their cattle and goats over green pastures through the highland slopes, living alongside the wildlife as they have for centuries.

Ngorongoro Wildlife

The crater is said to have the densest concentration of wildlife in Africa. As such, Ngorongoro Crater has achieved world renown, and attracts a growing number of visitors each year. Even if time is limited this natural but accessibly small caldera ensures a rewarding safari.
Game viewing is truly incredible, and the topography and views of the surrounding Crater Highlands out of this make it a world-class attraction.

As very few animals migrate in and out of the Crater with its 2000ft high walls, you can expect to see lions, elephants, hippos, Zebras, Flamingos, Jackals, Rhinos, antelopes, and many birds and other species. The birds seen here include eagle, vulture, and flamingos in the Crater Lake, stork, bats, giant vulture, sacred ibis, kori bustard, blacksmith plover, long necked heron and the cattle eagle. Ngorongoro Crater is also presently one of the most likely areas in Tanzania to see the endangered Black Rhino, as small populations are thriving in this idyllic and protected environment one of the only areas where they continue to breed in the wild.

Although animals are free to move in and out of this contained environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forests and spring source lakes on the crater floor tend to incline both grazers and predators to remain throughout the year.

Climate

The Crater rim, over 2,200 m high, touches swathes of clouds for most days of the year, with cool high altitude vapors that seem to bring a clean lightness to the air, and also a chill. These highlands wake up to a misty fog in most months, other than the high dry season during December and January.

Best Time to Visit

It can be amazingly cool at the top of the mountain even in summer so be prepared with a pullover. Thunderstorm activity occurs in November – December and saturating rains fall from March to May.