Ngorongoro Crater
A World Heritage Site. Ngorongoro Crater
Conservation Area is Tanzania's most famous and
popular safari destination. In it, lions,
cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, elephants, buffalo,
wildebeest, gazelles and hippos live in close
quarters. Their dramas play out in the more
confined space of the crater, which make it an
ideal place to see life on the plain.
Ngorongoro is usually a 1 or 2 day trip,
combined with a safari to one of our great national
parks.
Ngorongoro Conservation
Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) covers
some 8,300 square kilometres. It boasts of the
finest blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and
archaeological sites in Africa. It is also a
pioneering experiment in multiple land use. The
concept of multiple land use in conservation
perspective is a deviation from a traditional
approach of regarding conservation as complete
absenteeism of human interference. For NCA, the
concept means best use of the resources to achieve
the basic objectives of the establishment of the
NCA. It entails the management and utilisation of
resources in the form for which it is best suited
based on biological productivity and pertinent
social and economic factors.
The landscape of Ngorongoro is shaped by rifts
and volcanoes. A rift is a crack in the earth's
crust which may result in a steep cliff as the land
on one side rises or falls. Rifts also allow lava
or melted rock to escape to the surface where it
hardens. If lava emerges from the sam hole for a
long time, it builds up into a volcano. In the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the two main rifts
are north of Lake Eyasi and east of Lakes Manyara
and Natron. They meet where the nine volcanoes of
the Ngorongoro highlands were formed during the
past four million years. Of these, only Oldonyo
Lengai is still active. The ash and dust from each
eruption was carried by northwest wind to form the
fertile soils of the Serengeti plains.
All year round, and from Dec-May the Serengeti
migration is usually taking place. Has over 20,000
large animals including some of Tanzania's last
remaining black rhino.Animals are free to leave or
enter the crater but most of them stay because of
the plentiful water and food available on the
crater floor throughout the year. For the best
viewing and photography, approach the animals
slowly and quietly and stay on the official tracks.
Some of the other species are mainly wildebeest,
zebra, buffalo and gazelles. All these animals in
turn support large predators such as lions and
leopard, and scavengers such as hyena and
jackals.
Birds found in Ngorongoro includes flamingoes
and other water birds. To get to Seneto descent
road into the Crater, take the main road that leads
from the hotels and Conservation Headquarters and
continues north towards Serengeti. It passes around
the lip of the Crater for several kilometres before
sloping along the East Side of a vast bowl of grass
called the Malanja Depression. From the edge of the
bowl Lemagrut and Sadiman Mountains rise to west;
over the lip of the bowl, to the north stretches
the vast Serengeti Plain. In late rainy season,
usually April and May, the Malanja depression is
often carpeted with bright yellow flowers.
The road contours along the slopes of the
depression and passes a notch that opens on an
eastern view to the Crater floor. This is the well
named Windy Gap where you begin the descent into
the Crater. This side of the crater is still the
main entrance and exit route for wild animals and
livestock. KARIBU SANA TANZANIA.
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