Featured Park
Ngorongoro Crater
The Ngorongoro Crater is a world of its own. This collapsed volcano, roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) across and 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) deep, holds the densest concentration of large mammals in Africa. Lion, elephant, buffalo, black rhino, and flamingo-ringed soda lakes, all contained within a natural amphitheater that has no equal anywhere on the continent. You can see all of the Big Five in a single morning here.
The crater floor sits at around 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) elevation, so mornings are cool and often misty. The descent into the crater takes about 30 minutes on a winding dirt road, and once on the floor, game drives follow established tracks past freshwater pools, marshland, open grassland, and acacia woodland. The resident black rhinos, roughly 25 individuals, are among the easiest black rhinos to see in Tanzania. We plan the crater for early morning, when the light is soft and there are fewer vehicles, and you are usually back on the rim by early afternoon.
Beyond the crater itself, the broader Ngorongoro Conservation Area includes the Ngorongoro Highlands, walking country with Maasai communities, Empakaai Crater (a smaller, water-filled caldera with flamingos), and the Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world. Our Ngorongoro Crater guide goes into the detail.