The largest intact volcanic caldera in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Around 25,000 large animals live on the crater floor, including one of the last black rhino populations in Tanzania.
Two to three million years ago a volcano larger than Kilimanjaro collapsed in on itself, leaving a caldera 19 kilometres across with walls 600 metres high. The result is an enclosed ecosystem of grassland, swamp, soda lake and acacia forest supporting an animal density found nowhere else. Lion prides here have been studied continuously since the 1960s. The crater is also one of the few places in Tanzania where you have a realistic chance of black rhino, though usually at distance across the Lerai plain. Unlike a national park, the wider Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a multiple-use zone where Maasai families graze cattle alongside wildlife, an arrangement that has held for over sixty years. Descent is by a one-way road and vehicles must be off the floor by 16:00.
All year. June to October is dry and clear; the green season brings dramatic skies and fewer vehicles.
A short, high-density introduction to northern Tanzania. Three days covering Tarangire elephant herds, the Lake Manyara…
The classic northern circuit in five days. Tarangire elephants, two full days in the Serengeti and a full crater descent, with…
A long but rewarding day. Leave Arusha before dawn, descend into the crater by mid-morning and spend the day among the highest…
The complete northern circuit. Six days covering all four headline parks with two nights in the Serengeti and an unhurried…
Wildlife and people in equal measure. Time with Maasai pastoralists, the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Lake Eyasi and Datoga…
