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Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Ngorongoro Crater)

Ngorongoro has over 20,000 large animals including some of Tanzania's last remaining black rhino, protected within its rim. This crater is also known as 'the eight wonders of the world', this heritage center harbors the most gorgeous wildlife concentration on earth. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) covers some 8,300 square kilometres.

Nearly three million years ago Ngorongoro space needled parallel to Mount Kilimanjaro as one of the highest peaks in Africa. Later it tramped down during the turbulent birth of the Rift Valley, its volcanic top erupted at the time that ancient man first walked the plains.
Rifts and volcanoes shape the landscape of Ngorongoro and also cause lava or melted rock to penetrate to the surface where it hardens. If lava emerges from the same penetration for a long period, it builds up into a volcano.

In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the main rifts are north of Lake Eyasi and east of Lakes Manyara and Lake Natron, where the nine volcanoes of Ngorongoro highlands were formed during the past four million years. Of these, only volcano Oldonyo Lengai is still active. The ash and dust from the eruptions was carried by the wind to form the fertile soils of the Serengeti plains.

Ngorongoro is also a pioneering experiment in multiple land use because it boasts the finest blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeological sites in Africa. The concept of multiple land use in conservation perspective is a deviation from a traditional approach of regarding conservation as complete absenteeism of human interference.

The park's Wildlife
Today, Ngorongoro's caldera harbors the most ravishing wildlife haven on earth. They are not confined by the Crater walls, and can leave freely; they stay because conditions are favorable. Since most of the Crater floor is grassland, grazing animals predominate: gnu, zebra, gazelles, buffalo, eland and kongoni (Coke's hartebeest) and warthogs. The rich pasture and permanent water of the Crater floor supports a resident population of some 20,000 to 25,000 large mammals. The swamp and forest provide additional resources for hippos, some of Tanzania's last remaining black rhinos, waterbucks, giant-tusked elephants, reedbucks and baboons, bushbucks, and vervets. The steep inner slopes provide a habitat for dikdiks and the rare mountain reedbuck.

Towering euphorbias adhere to the crater walls and on the floor. Fever tree and Fig tree forests give shade to an awe-inspiring array of creatures. All these animals in turn support large predators such as Lion and Leopard, and scavengers such as Hyena and Jackals.