A volcanic crater packed with Africa’s most iconic animals sounds surreal, doesn’t it? Well, that’s why the Ngorongoro Crater – part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area – is one of Tanzania’s most visited destinations.
The 600-metre-deep hole in the ground is the result of an eruption of a now-extinct volcano about two-to-three million years ago.
As far as safari locations go, there’s nothing else like it.
Wild times
Spend time with old elephant bulls, with their unflappable, seen-it-all energy. Spot a grouchy black rhino browsing the bushes. Hippos can be found wallowing in the crater’s swampy wetlands.
The crater also holds a high density of predators. Leopards slink through forests of yellow fever trees, and lions are never far from the herds of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles.
For once, impala (the McDonald’s of the bush) is not on the menu. They’re one of the species not found in the crater, along with giraffes – possibly due to lack of their preferred food and habitat. Or maybe they just couldn’t be bothered with the hike, you know?
On the edge
There are no camps in the crater itself. Instead, lodges are perched around the rim.
Stay for the (extraordinary) views – but also to get into the crater before everyone else in the morning. That kind of VIP queue-jump access is worth the top-dollar rates.
After a full day on safari, head back to your loftily positioned suite, where a crackling fire and a warming glass of red wine await. (at 2000 metres above sea level, it does get chilly)
Beyond the crater
Had your fill of the crowds? There are day-trip treks to nearby craters that aren’t as hectically busy.
And don’t miss the chance to visit nearby Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world, where the famed paleoanthropologist pair Mary and Louis Leakey led excavations from the 1930s. At the museum, you’ll see evidence of early man in the area, including footprints thought to be 3.7 million years old (coincidentally, about the age you might feel after a peak-season day in the crater).
The Trimates.
Here’s a fun side note. We have a small soft spot for Louis Leakey (unsurprisingly, it’s primate-related). To further his work on evolution and feeling that women made better observers (nothing to do with him being a known womaniser, of course), Dr Leakey recruited Jane Goodall to study chimpanzees in Tanzania and Dian Fossey to observe mountain gorillas in Rwanda and later helped fund Biruté Galdikas’ orangutan research. They’re often called Leakey’s Angels, but we prefer to refer to these three trailblazing primatologists as ‘the Trimates’.
