Ngorongoro crater Travel Guide

The Ngorongoro crater is one of the finest places in Tanzania for watching game. It's a must see and it should be on the top of your priority list.

In fact, it's not really a crater it's a caldera, a collapsed volcano. The crater (we still call it a crater) has a diameter of 19km, it is about 600m deep. The bottom is flat, almost treeless and filled with some small creeks and lakes.

Ngorongoro is thought to have formed about 2.5 million years ago from a large volcano whose cone collapsed inward after a major eruption, leaving the present vast, unbroken caldera as its landmark.

The crater is loaded with game. Gazelles, zebra's, elephants, hyena's, buffalo's, hippos, lions and many many birds including ostriches. Only the giraffe is not present. The steep pathway down into the crater forbids this tall legged animal to descend.

The area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. (See http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/39 for details.)