The Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact and unfilled volcanic caldera, is the main tourist attraction of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Renowned for its stunning natural features, it is one of Africa’s Seven Natural Wonders. The crater, the largest and most scenic in the conservation area, is home to a high concentration of wildlife, including over 25,000 animals.
Among these are the Big Five: elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, lions, and leopards. Additionally, visitors can see hippos, hyenas, warthogs, zebras, elands, gazelles, wildebeests, and more. This rich diversity makes the Ngorongoro Crater arguably the best place in Tanzania to easily spot and observe the Big Five and other wild species.
The crater rim and its floor offer some of the best viewing and photographing opportunities in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Historically, the crater was a unique spot where humans and nature interacted more closely than anywhere else. Today, visitors can still see the settlements and cemeteries of the area’s earliest occupants.
Geological records reveal that the cone of the volcanic caldera collapsed inward, forming what we now know as the crater. The site is named after a Maasai phrase, ‘orgirra le kkorongorro,’ meaning “Big Bowl.” Early documentation misspelled ‘kkorongorro’ into what is now known as Ngorongoro, referring to the crater’s intricate depth. Thus, it became known as the Ngorongoro Crater.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a remarkable geographical feature, showcasing a variety of habitats such as grasslands, swamps, rivers, and woodlands. This diversity makes it exceptionally rich in both wildlife and vegetation. As a natural formation, it allows animals to roam freely throughout the year, making it a prime location for both local and international tourists to observe wildlife behavior more easily than in other places.
Geologically, the Ngorongoro Crater was formed around 2.5 million years ago when a massive volcano, nearly the size of present-day Mt. Kilimanjaro, erupted and collapsed due to continuous tectonic activities and movements. Covering almost 260 square kilometers, the crater has a diameter of approximately 20 kilometers and collapsed to a depth of 610 meters, creating a massive volcanic caldera.
The Ndutu plains is located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, on the outskirts of the Southern Serengeti plains. It is where the great migration wildebeest migration take place in Ngorongoro.
The Olduvai Gorge is a remarkable archaeological site in East Africa and It is the one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world with crucial evidence of human evolution.
The Empakai crater is one of the multi-volcanic calderas in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with a beautiful lake that makes up more than 75% of its crater floor.
The Nasera rock is situated about 20 kilometers North of Olduvai Gorge. An admirable rock standing 100 metres above the plains.
The Olduvai Gorge Museum is an onsite museum built next to the most famous archaeological site in East Africa. It is situated six kilometers from the main road junction where the Zinjanthropus monument stands on the way to Serengeti National Park.
The Endoro Waterfalls is a source of a natural spring that forms the Endoro River, which flows from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.
The Olkarien Gorge is a massive granite monolith on the outskirts of the Gol Mountains in northern Tanzania.It is a nesting site for hundreds of the Ruppell's griffon vulture.
Olmoti Crater is situated at the Northern end of the Ngorongoro Crater, and offers scenic view of highlands. It is a water a catchment for Ngorongoro rich in flora and fauna.
Laetoli is one of Africa's most important paleontological site with evidence of early human bipedalism dating back 3.76 mya.
Is a moving black dune, composed of volcanic ash from the nearby volcanic mountain - oldoinyo lengai. It is moving slowly westwards across the Ngorongoro plains at a rate of about 15 to 20m per year.
Mount Lolmalasin is the crater mountain in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the third highest mountain in Tanzania standing at 3700m above sea level.
The Gol Mountains are located at the north-end of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and is an example of a fault-bounded mountain range.
