Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro crater is located west of Arusha, connecting to the Serengeti in the north-west and to the Great Rift Valley in the east. It is part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which is a UNESCO World- Heritage Site and a popular tourist destination in Tanzania

The caldera is an important landmark for human history, as well as an essential habitat safeguarding animal diversity. Despite its small area, the caldera has excellent bio-diversity, and several globally threatened species live on these plains.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is one of Tanzania’s most popular self-drive trip destinations. What once was a fiery, lava strewn, inhospitable area is now home to 25,000 large animals, including lion, black rhino, elephant, and giraffes.

The Ngorongoro Crater is also one of the best places for hiking in Tanzania, with one of the most popular routes taking you up the Olmoti volcano and down towards the Empakaai Crater Lake. Here, thousands of flamingos flock in the shallows, and the views from the trail are almost unimaginable.

The best time to visit the Ngorongoro is from June to February. Wildlife lives at the crater year-round, which means you can visit at any time of year.  If you are keener on seeing the predators in action, January or February when there is a hiatus in the annual rains and the wildebeest calve in Ndutu Area

The Human History of Ngorongoro is one of the most remarkable features of human evolutionary development. In the Olduvai Gorge, archaeological findings revealed the remains of a Zinjanthropus, the world’s first humans. 

Archaeological sites reveal that cattle-herding people have lived in the area for thousands of years, but the Maasai only arrived in this area 200 years ago. Today, around 40,000 indigenous Maasai pastoralists live in the conservation area. Only the Maasai are granted permission to live on these lands.