Overview
Ngorongoro Crater is the world's most productive wildlife-viewing arena — a collapsed volcanic caldera containing 25,000 large animals. Black rhino sightings here are among Africa's most reliable.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a protected area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Ngorongoro District, 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha City in Arusha Region, within the Crater Highlands geological area of northeastern Tanzania. The area is named after Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera within the area. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), which administers the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), is an arm of the Tanzanian government and its boundaries follow the boundary of the Ngorongoro District in the Arusha Region. The western portion of the park abuts the Serengeti National Park (SNP). The area comprising the NCA, SNP, and Kenya's Maasai Mara game reserve is home to Great Migration, a massive annual migration of millions of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, and other animals. The NCA also contains Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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The Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact, unflooded volcanic caldera, roughly 600 metres deep with a floor around 260 square kilometres. Its enclosed grasslands, swamp and lake support a remarkable density of wildlife, including lion, elephant, buffalo, hippo, flamingo and the endangered black rhino.
The crater lies within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where Maasai pastoralists live alongside wildlife, and is usually visited on a day descent from the rim or from Karatu.
BOA's guidance on timing: June to October and January to February
The main entrance to Ngorongoro
Lodoare Gate is the main entrance to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where the road climbs from Karatu toward the crater rim. It's the threshold to one of Tanzania's most famous landscapes.
Best: Year-roundThe great overlook into the caldera
The crater rim viewpoints offer one of East Africa's great panoramas, looking down onto the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater far below. On clear mornings the view across the caldera is unforgettable.
Best: Year-roundA wandering dune of volcanic ash
Shifting Sands is a free-standing crescent dune of black volcanic ash near Oldupai Gorge that slowly migrates across the plains over the years, held together by the wind. It's a curious natural landmark on the Serengeti-bound route.
Best: Year-roundScored from three years of rainfall and temperature at this park — taller is better for game viewing. Green (short) months are wetter: thicker bush, wildlife more dispersed.
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