About Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a protected area and a World Heritage Site located 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The area is named after Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera within the area. The conservation area is administered by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, an arm of the Tanzanian government, and its boundaries follow the boundary of the Ngorongoro Division of the Arusha Region. The area was established in 1959 as a multiple land-use areas, with wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing traditional livestock grazing. It includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest caldera, and Olduvai Gorge, a 14km long deep ravine.

Ngorongoro Highlands

These rolling verdant hills East of Ngorongoro Crater provide classic trekking opportunities, walking amongst wildlife with Masai Warrior guides to little known craters and volcanoes. The Crater Highlands which provide some of its finest views and scenery, shifting sands, Oldoinyo Lengai, the only active volcanic mountain, Olduvai Gorge, that house the fossils the earliest living man. Game viewing, visits historical sites of Olduvai Gorge, shifting sand hiking.

History of Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The name of the crater has an onomatopoeic origin; it was named by the Maasai pastoralists after the sound produced by the cowbell (ngoro ngoro). Based on fossil evidence found at the Olduvai Gorge, various hominid species have occupied the area for 3 million years. During the visit, you will be able to meet Maasai men and women, enjoy dancing and listening to their native melodies, be entertained with a dramatic enactment, and maybe even try on their red cloaks! What makes this experience enriching is that you get to see an authentic social side of Africa and a glimpse of the rich Maasai culture. Ngorongoro Conservation Area is one of the components of the Serengeti Ecosystem. The famous Serengeti Plains are shared by the NCA and Serengeti National Park. The dry season supports few herds of non-migratory wildlife but in the rainy season (November –May) the plains turn lush and green and millions of animals flood into this rich pasture.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to a population of some 25,000 large animals, mostly ungulates, alongside the highest density of mammalian predators in Africa including the densest known population of a lion (estimated 68 in 1987). The property harbors a range of endangered species, such as the Black Rhino, Wild hunting dog and Golden Cat and 500 species of birds. It also supports one of the largest animal migrations on earth, including over 1 million wildebeest, 72,000 zebras, and c350,000 Thompson and Grant gazelles.

The 2009 Ngorongoro Wildlife Conservation Act placed new restrictions on human settlement and subsistence farming in the Crater, displacing Maasai pastoralists, most of whom had been relocated to Ngorongoro from their ancestral lands to the north when the British colonial government established Serengeti National Park in 1959.

The main feature of the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority is the Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera. The crater, which formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago, is 610 meters (2,000 feet) deep and its floor covers 260 square kilometers (100 square miles). Ngorongoro Crater, the Garden of Eden of Africa, has a glorious landscape that’s teeming with about 25,000 animals including ungulates, four of the Big Five, and other large mammals. It is also one of the best places to spot critically endangered animals like black rhinos, golden cats, and wild hunting dogs. Home to one of the densest known population of Masai lions, Ngorongoro Crater guarantees an action-packed, heart-pounding game. In fact, it also supports the largest animal migration on earth, the Great Migration.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area also protects Oldupai or Olduvai Gorges, situated in the plains area. It is considered to be the seat of humanity after the discovery of the earliest known specimens of the human genus, Homo habilis as well as early Hominidae, such as Paranthropus boisei. The Olduvai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, which stretches along with eastern Africa. Olduvai is in the eastern Serengeti Plains in northern Tanzania and is about 50 kilometers (31 mi) long. It lies in the rain shadow of the Ngorongoro highlands and is the driest part of the region. The gorge is named after ‘Oldupaai’, the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area covers mountain forests, woodlands, grasslands, lakes, swamps, and two major rivers. Not to mention Ngorongoro Crater, Oldupai Gorge, and Laetoli.

When people plan for their bucket-list adventure in Tanzania, Serengeti National Park always comes to mind first. Sure, there’s the Great Migration and the Lion King setting — both fantastic reasons that make ditching the Serengeti impossible. But Tanzania has so much more to offer and it would be a total bummer to miss out on them. Particularly the renowned Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The great thing is, animals are just in plain sight with nowhere to hide. Hence, you can see it one day. You can even make a quick side trip to Olduvai Gorge if you wish! If you think about it, you get to see A LOT in even just half a day. Every direction you look, you can spot zebras, lions, elephants, wildebeests and if you’re lucky, black rhinos, too! So if you are on a tight schedule, it would definitely be very easy (and wise) to squeeze a Ngorongoro Crater safari in your itinerary.

The stunning landscape of Ngorongoro Crater combined with its spectacular concentration of wildlife is one of the greatest natural wonders of the planet. Spectacular wildebeest numbers (well over 1 million animals) pass through the property as part of the annual migration of wildebeest across the Serengeti ecosystem and calve in the short grass plains which straddle the Ngorongoro Conservation Area/ Serengeti National Park boundary. This constitutes a truly superb natural phenomenon.

Laetoli is a famous hominin footprints site preserved in volcanic ash in Tanzania. The site is located 45 km south of Olduvai Gorge. The location and tracks were discovered by archaeologist Mary Leakey in 1976, and were excavated by 1978. Based on analysis of the footfall impressions “The Laetoli Footprints” provided convincing evidence for the theory of bipedalism in Pliocene hominins and received significant recognition by scientists and the public.

Empakaai Crater, most filled with the lake, 23km northeast of Olmoti Crater, may not be as famous as Ngorongoro Crater but many travellers considers its match in beauty. The lake, which draws flamingos and other waterbirds, fills most of the crater floor, which is surrounded by steep-sided, forested cliffs at least 300m high. The view from the crater rim is one of the most appealing in northern Tanzania, but hiking down into the crater is a wonderful experience as well.