Kaleidoscope

Africa’s garden of Eden

Declared World Heritage Site in 1979, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area borders the Serengeti National Park in the north and a few hours drive to the west is the town of Arusha at the foot of Mount Meru within view of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The crater itself is nestled within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and is inhabited by 30, 000 animals covering an area of more than 8,000 km2 encompassing the Northern Highlands, extinct and active volcanoes, and the Olduvai Gorge where evacuated fossils show that the area is one of the oldest sites of hominoid habitation in the world.

The Crater floor is a natural sanctuary for thousands of animals and many species of insects and birds including resident zebra, wildebeest, Grants and Thomson’s gazelle, while Tanzania’s few remaining black rhino are protected and regularly sighted in the crater, as are large herds of buffalo. Huge tusked elephants, black-maned lions, cheetah and spotted hyena are also found, as well as thousands of Lesser and Greater flamingos in the soda lake.

Lush highlands surround the Crater, falling away to the tawny plains and the alkaline lakes of the Great Rift Valley 2,286 meters above sea level, where you can drive almost all the way around the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, the largest unbroken caldera in the world. Its steep walls rise from the crater floor, covering an area of about 260 km2, not restricting the continual movement of animals that utilize the different habitats of the crater.

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View point at the Ngorongoro Crater

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Salt Lake of the Ngorongoro Crater

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Early morning at the Crater's rim

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Promises of a sun filled day

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Soda Lake filled with Greater and Lesser flamingoes

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Game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater

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Thousands of Greater and Lesser pink flamingoes

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Round table

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You watch my back - I watch yours...

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Lioness surveying the plains

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Male Ostrich in the Crater

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Picnic spot at the Hippo pool

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View from the North West of the Crater's rim