Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (809,440 ha) offers a great variety of landscapes. From vast expanses of highland plains to savannas and forests, but is mainly known for the Ngorongoro Crater. Once an impressive vulcano, now an ancient natural wonder. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest un-flooded and unbroken caldera in the world. Its size is about 20 km across and its walls reach a dept of 600 meters.
This three-million-year-old caldera now shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens on earth. Here you may find the most dense population of wildlife on earth. Due to its unique features, the Ngorongoro Crater is officially recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the ‘7 official Wonders of Africa’.
One of the 7 official Wonders of Africa and highlights of Tanzania. The Ngorongoro crater is an old caldera that came to form a unique habitat that can support many, many wild animals, thus creating the most dense wildlife-packed area on earth.
The Ngorongoro Crater is home to many animals, both prey and predator. Since the Ngorongoro Crater is a relatively small and flat area of about 260 square kilometers, wildlife can easily be spotted. This makes the Ngorongoro Crater the ideal spot to finalise your ‘Big 5 list’. Especially if you still have the endangered black rhino, as chances of spotting one are the highest here!
The Maasai of Ngorongoro
Outside of the Ngorongoro Crater area, you will find wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai Tribes, who´re practicing traditional livestock grazing.
The Maasai are an ancient tribe with fargoing knowledge about the bush and can survive from what is given to them by nature. They live in small, self-made villages, wear colorful clothing and have wholesome traditions, making a visit such a great addition to your safari
Olduvai Gorge
Extensive archaeological research has also yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years.
The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge lies within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and is one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world.
This site has proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evolution.
BEST TIME TO VISIT
The Ngorongoro Conservation area and the Ngorongoro Crater can be visited year yound. Usually, the best time to travel is based on one’s personal preferences.
If great weather is preferred, the best time to visit Ngorngoro is considered to be from January to February or from June through September.
However, there’s a downside to these months. The Ngorongoro Crater is a small, but very popular area and can get quite crowded in High Season. So if you’d like to avoid the crowds, the best time to travel for you would be between March and May. In this period you’ll find fewer tourists, but the heaviest rainfall as well. Apart from the beforemetioned months, November is a good month to visit as well, with less chance of rain (especially heavy rainfall), but still fewer tourists than in the high season.
ACTIVITIES
Ngorongoro Conservation Area and its magnificent crater offers more than ‘just’ wildlife spotting. There’s quite a few amazing activities you can undertake if you’re on your way to the park.
For example:
- Game drives
- Maasai Visit (there’s numerous small villages)
- Mto wa Mbu village tours (multiple tours possible here)
- Walking Safari’s (on the crater rim)
- Hadzabe Tribe visit (this is a full day excursion, but definitely worth it)
