Ngorongoro Crater

About Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro is a collapsed volcano, a caldera some 19 kilometres across whose floor covers about 260 km² and lies roughly 600 metres below the rim. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, it forms the heart of the 8,300 km² Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where wildlife and Maasai pastoralists share the land.

The crater walls keep a dense, permanent population of animals inside: around 25,000 large mammals including lion prides, spotted hyena clans, buffalo, hippo, zebra and wildebeest, plus flamingos along the shallows of Lake Magadi. It is also one of the best places in East Africa to see the endangered black rhino, and some of the continent's last large-tusked bull elephants wander the Lerai forest.

A typical visit starts before dawn on the crater rim, often wrapped in mist, then winds down the steep road to the floor for a half-day game drive and a picnic beside the hippo pool at Ngoitokitok Spring. Back on the rim, the lodges look out over the caldera from forested slopes and make a spectacular place to spend the night.

The wider conservation area is worth time too: Olduvai Gorge, the "Cradle of Mankind" where Louis and Mary Leakey found early human fossils, the quiet Empakaai Crater, and Maasai villages where visitors can learn about a way of life that has shaped these highlands for generations.

Wildlife you may see

• Black rhino
• Lion
• Spotted hyena
• Elephant (large bulls)
• Buffalo
• Hippo
• Zebra and wildebeest
• Cheetah and serval (occasional)
• Flamingos at Lake Magadi
• Over 400 bird species

Highlights

• Black rhino, lion and hippo in a single morning
• Flamingos and waterbirds on Lake Magadi
• Picnic at Ngoitokitok Spring, with hippos in the pool
• Olduvai Gorge and sunrise over the crater rim