The Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the natural wonders of Africa, the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world, a vast green bowl some 600 metres deep and 20 kilometres across, formed when a giant volcano collapsed. Its floor of grassland, forest, lake and swamp is a natural enclosure teeming with an extraordinary density of wildlife, including all of the Big Five and some of the best chances in Africa to see the endangered black rhino, a UNESCO wonder.

History

The name imitates the sound of a cowbell, ngoro-ngoro, in the language of the Maasai, and the fossil OH 7 from Olduvai Gorge shows that hominins lived in the area at least 1.75 million years ago. Pastoralists replaced hunter-gatherers a few thousand years ago: the Iraqw came about 2,000 years ago and the Datooga around 1700, and both were driven out by the Maasai in the 1800s. The first known European visitor was Oscar Baumann in 1892, the German brothers Adolph and Friedrich Siedentopf farmed in the crater until the First World War, British game ordinances from 1921 reached the crater by 1930, and in 1959 the Ngorongoro Conservation Area was separated from the Serengeti National Park to secure the land rights of the Maasai (Wikipedia, Ngorongoro Conservation Area).

The landscape

• The crater floor - the wildlife-packed caldera bowl.
• The Big Five - lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and black rhino.
• The black rhinos - a rare chance to see the endangered rhino.
• The crater rim view - the breathtaking panorama down into the bowl.

When to go

June to October, the dry season, is generally best for wildlife viewing and access; the crater is green and beautiful after the rains, though it can be busy year-round. Mornings are best, descending early before the day-tripper vehicles arrive.

Good to know

Because so much wildlife is concentrated in a small, accessible area, it can get crowded with safari vehicles, especially around good sightings, which detracts from the wilderness feel. Descending into the crater is by permit and vehicle only, and time on the floor is limited. It is cool and can be misty on the rim. The density of wildlife, though, is astonishing.

Nearby

The Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge and Lake Manyara are on the northern circuit.

Key facts