Ngorongoro crater is the world’s largest inactive, and unfilled volcanic caldera. This geological masterpiece was formed as a result of an extremely large volcanic explosion which caused the volcano to collapse in on itself. Today the crater forms a bowl of 20 kilometers (12.5 miles)wide with side up to 610 meters (2000 feet) deep and 304 square kilometers (188sq miles).The crater is dynamic ecosystem with diverse vegetation, woodland and forest covers the edges of the crater, there are two forests in the crater and several swamps. The extremely fertile crater floor is the reason why there is such a highly concentrated of Fauna and Flora. All these varied environments attract wildlife to drink, wallow, graze, hide or climb. Although animals are free to move in and out of this contained environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forest and spring source lakes on the crater floor combined with fairly steep crater sides tend to confine both grazers and predators to remain throughout the year. With very few exceptions, practically every species of African plains mammal can be found on the crater floor, including some of the only remaining black rhinos in the world.
You can drive into the Ngorongoro crater, a giant volcanic caldera with steep walls and 260-square kilometer wide. It’s famous for the presence of the Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard, Black Rhino, Zebras, and Hyenas. The view is stunning, not forgetting the wildlife which makes it renowned for safaris. It is so compacted that you are able to view a lot in one trip.
Observing Maasai villages reveal their unique dances and the herding of cattle. They also make beadwork which includes jewelry and other items and these can be bought from them. The Maasai people coexist with the wildlife, which makes this a stop with unique cultural significance. It provides an opportunity to interact with the locals.
It got its nickname the Cradle of Mankind for the collected human fossils dating millions of years old. It is famous for rest of early man and his remains. Plus there is a small museum of its findings. One can walk through the site with a sense of a bygone era. This is surely a mix of history and science for any inquisitive visitors.
Oldupai Gorge is an archaeological site in Tanzania that holds the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors. Paleoanthropologists have found hundreds of fossilized bones and stone tools in the area dating back millions of years, leading them to conclude that humans evolved in Africa.
Oldupai Gorge (Originally misnamed Olduvai) is a Maasai word for a wild sisal plant that grows in the area. It is the most archaeological site in East Africa, and has become an essential visit for the travellers to Ngorongoro and Serengeti. The steep ravine is about 48.2 km long and 90 meters deep, not quite large enough to classified as a canyon. A river cut through several layers to form four individual beds, with the oldest estimated at about 2 million years old. At Laetoli, South of Oldupai Gorge, hominids footprint are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 million years old and represents some of the earliest signs of mankind in the world. Three separate tracks of a small-brained upright walking early hominid. Australopithecus Afarensis, a creature about 1.2 to 1.4 meters high, were found. Imprints of these are displayed in the Oldupai Gorge Museum.
More advanced descendants of Laetoli’s hominids were found further North, buried in the layers of the 100 meters deep, Oldupai Gorge. Excavation, mainly the archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey, yielded four different kinds of hominid, showing a gradual increase in brain size and in the complexity of their stone tools. The first skull of Zinjanthropus, commonly known as “Nutcracker man” who lived about 1.75 million years ago, this made it the oldest hominin discovered to that point. The most important find includes Homo habilis, Zinjanthropus and Laetoli footprints.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area, it is where people and their early ancestors have co-existed with wildlife for nearly four million years. This World Heritage and International Biosphere Reserve encompasses a spectacular mosaic of landscape that includes the breath-taking of the Ngorongoro crater and the legendary Serengeti the annual hosts of the world’s highest concentration and diversity of migratory animals numbering nearly three million strong.
The Oldupai Gorge Museum and Visitor Centre offer numerous educational exhibits, including fossils and artifacts of our human ancestors and skeletons of many extinct animals who shared their world. There are also informative lectures, special guided to the archaeological site and shifting sand.
Birding in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is remarkable, from the highland forests to the crater floor due to the existence of more than 500 bird species. The variety is astonishing year-round as birds like flamingos can be found at Lake Magadi and cranes, ostriches, and raptors perched over the crater are also abundant.
Birding in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is remarkable, from the highland forests to the crater floor due to the existence of more than 500 bird species. The variety is astonishing year-round as birds like flamingos can be found at Lake Magadi and cranes, ostriches, and raptors perched over the crater are also abundant.
Taking a nature walk in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area provides a new experience where one can traverse the forested highlands, volcanic mountains, and grasslands on foot with a guide. It is an excellent way to appreciate the finer details of wildlife such as smaller animals, plants, and birds as they learn about the ecosystem while taking in breathtaking sights of the surrounding regions and the crater.
Ngorongoro is home to lush green, rain-forest vegetation, as well as desert plants. The area has uncultivated lowland vegetation, arid and semi-arid plant species, abundant short grass used for grazing, and highland forest. The crater basin is covered by open short grass plains with fresh and brackish water lakes, marshes, swamps, and two patches of acacia woodland. The Lerai forest is home to the Yellow fever acacia trees while Laiyanai forest has pillar wood and some acacia lahai. The undulating plains to the west are grass-covered with occasional Umbrella acacia and Commiphora Africana trees. Blackthorn acacia and Zebra wood dominate in the drier conditions beside Lake Eyasi. This extensive grasslands and bushlands are rich, relatively untouched by cultivation, and support very large animal populations
The crater floor boasts one of the highest carnivore density in the world including large prides of lions, packs of hyenas, jackals, leopards are especially found on the rim forest. Elephants in the Lerai forest, large herds of zebra, wildebeests, bushbuck, waterbuck, buffaloes, black rhino, hippos, warthog, eland, troops of baboon and gazelles.
Winding back the hands of time a few thousand years ago, these lands are believed to have originally been occupied by hunters and gatherers. Rolling forward several years on, the native communities were invaded by the migration of the pastoralist communities of Cushitic and Datoga. In the 1800‘ˢ, the larger Maasai communities drove out the native and dominated these lands. Since then, the Maasai occupied the area and are living with the environment and wildlife in harmony.
How to get there: 3hours drive from Arusha.
When to go: All year round
Experiencing Ngorongoro Crater: We recommend 1-2 days tour in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Also day tours can be arranged due to its close proximity to Arusha.
