Ngorongoro Conservation Area Tanzania – Guide
Ngorongoro Conservation Area is located in northern highlands of Tanzania a home to one of the most spectacular safari experience on the continent. Ngorongoro Conservation Area stretches on about 8,292 square kilometers and 180 kilometers west of Arusha.
The Conservation Area spreads on vast expanses of the high land plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests adjacent from the plains of Serengeti National Park in the North West and the Eastern arm of the Great Rift Valley.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area is part of the large Serengeti ecosystem. Ngorongoro Conservation Area harbors a stunning landscape with spectacular concentration of wildlife which has remarkably remained one of the greatest natural wonders to see in the planet.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area is part of the annual wildebeest migration with well over one million animals passing through the Conservation Area across to the Serengeti ecosystem. The annual migration of wildebeest and zebras in the Area is one of the un altered natural mammal migration in the world.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site that was established in 1959. The area has been subjected to extensive archeological research for over 80 years which has yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution with human environment dynamics that extend from over four million years to the early modern era.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area was name after the Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera within the area. Ngorogoro Crater is the world’s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera.
The Crater formed as a result of a large volcanic explosion on its self two or three million years ago. Ngorongoro Crater has a great depth of about 610 meters with its floor covering about 260 square Kilometers. The continued similar eruptions like those that led to the formation of Ngorongoro Crater also led to the formation of Olmoti and Empakaai Craters but smaller in the magnitude. Grab a chance to see the largest Crater in the world and one of the seven new natural wonders of Africa.
Ngorongoro crater is exceptional with high wildlife concentration including all the big five. An estimated 25,000 animals and hundreds of birds live on the crater floor including the lions, black rhino, wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, elephants and giraffe.
The Crater rim offers a great chance to spot the herds journey across the base in long columns and when an eye is kept wide open there is great chance to spot rhinos in the bushes and the old bull elephants with long majestic tusks around the Gorigor Swamp.
The leopards however lurk in the lerai forest and lion prides powl the plains. To the northern part of the Crater is the Olmoti volcano that offers a chance to view wildlife in abundance with animals such as the buffalo, zebra and the hyena. On your trip to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a hike down to the Empakaai Crater is preferable with it offering a great chance to view the thousands of pink flamingoes around the edge of the soda lake.
Best time to visit Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Between June and October is always a dry season and the vegetation in the Crater becomes less dense making wildlife spotting much easier since large numbers of animals gather near the water source.
The dryer days in this period makes the Conservation Area much more accessible. The major animals that can be spotted during the periods include the big cats and most animal in this period can be seen clustering around the permanent water sources and thus the greater time for animal sighting.
The temperatures between this period are however not too hot with maximum temperatures reaching up to 20C, and also tend to be dusty and the sun makes photographing easier and beautiful.