Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater was one of my favorite places to be in Tanzania. We stayed on the rim in the Serena Lodge and the stars at night were brilliant and I was lucky enough to have a full moon night while there too. The amount of wildlife in the crater was almost mind boggling with scenes looking like the garden of eden with many species of animals all gathered together.

Long Views and Unique Landscape

What makes the Ngorongoro caldera (technically it's not really a crater) stand out most from other safari parks in Tanzania that we visited (Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti) is the landscape. Because the park is mostly inside a gigantic collapsed volcano with sides over 1,000 feet high, it's different than other parks that simply "begin" somewhere with a set of gates. Climbing into the caldera, you go climb up through a cloud forest with very limited visibility (at least in late May, when we went.) Rising up over the rim, the clouds suddenly give way to sweeping views across the caldera, which is breath-taking. You can't help but try to picture what the explosion 1.5 million years ago must have been like, throwing chunks of granite the size of office buildings as far away as Kenya. Once on the caldera floor, there are only trees around the edges, so your views are flat and clear for miles, which has its advantages and disadvantages. Animals are all visible from far away, but so are the other trucks. rarely did it feel crowded (again, late May is very early in the season, and we were told that in high season it would be much, much worse). At that time of year, we saw only a few lions and at a great distance. Tarangire and the Serengeti had many more lions, often in the more abundant trees that are missing from Ngorongoro, so the caldera wasn't the place for big cats. Your best photo opportunities in the caldera will be for wide landscapes, or for very long animal shots, if you have the lens for it (600mm would've been nice). Zebras and wildebeests are often right alongside the road, but the few rhinos or lions you might find will often be a half mile away or more. All caldera roads were dirt, there were no private vehicles leaving the roads, and there is a very nice, albeit popular, scenic lunch spot by a hippo lake, with rest rooms. The caldera is probably a must-see place, but only in combination with another park that has denser trees and more big cats, like Tarangire.

A remarkable conservation area with numerous numbers of species from leopards and lions to herds of elephants.

so big variety of animals in a limited zone.
so easy to see rare animals because the different guides coperate with each other

The Land That Time Forgot

Descend into the Ngorongoro Crater (actually a caldera, but let's not quibble) and enteri a cool and quiet world belonging to lions, rhinos, hippos, elephants wildebeest, zebras, hyenas, Thompson gazelles, olive baboons, vervet monkeys, jackals, and any number of birds and smaller creatures--just about everything but giraffes. Twenty kilometers in diameter and seemingly flat, the crater hides springs, lakes, and forests (and a few nice bathrooms) where you'll find the animals that don't usually roam the broad grasslands. Humans intrude in pop-top Land Cruisers, but our early-June visit found only a handful. Our guide, Peter, told us later visitors would find hundreds of vehicles and an occasional traffic jam near an especially interesting animal. Don't let that stop you. You'll be goggle-eyed focusing on the animals.
Photographers should take their longest telephoto lenses ((I used my 150-600mm zoom the most), but there are many occasions, as when a lion pride or elephant walks right in front of your vehicle, that a normal or wide angle lens is essential. The rhino is the rarest animal (we were very lucky to see seven) and keeps its distance. so even with a 600mm I couldn't fill a frame.
If possible find accommodations on the rim. Think hard before spending big bucks for a room view into the Crater, because it's often obscured by mist and clouds. We loved our stay at the Rhino Lodge--excellent food, comfortable, rustic rooms, attentive staff, and exceptional service. When we had three flats in our own Land Cruiser and needed assistance driving up from Serengeti, Rhino Lodge sent us a Land Cruiser and two guides to shepherd us up the last two hours after dark. (Cost? $25) The manager and his wife met us and kept our dinner warm.
Rhino Lodge also arranged a Land Cruiser, excellent box lunch and guide (Peter) for our day trip into the Crater, and it was a day all of us will treasure forever. Nothing like a knowledgable, friendly driver/guide, a pop-top for viewing and ten hours watching thousands of animals in a habitat they chose to live in.
Be prepared for very cool and damp weather on the rim and even in the Crater early and late--down sweater or Polartec and a rain jacket will do--and a light shirt for the warm, sunny days.

Heaven on earth

The scenery is excellent. Very suitable for safari if you have short time. All land is visible, you can spot lots of animals in a short time. A little bit cold in the rim. It is a must if you are travelling to Tanzania for safari.

Mind blowing scenery and such concentration of wildlife in a few kilometres is inconceivable till you see it.

Ngorongoro is a great place to spot African wildlife, mainly because all the animals are "locked" into a small place. While all the wildebeasts in the Serengeti wander off to Kenya once a year, all the animals in Ngorongoro live there all the year around. The opportunity to see dramatic lion hunts or similar is bigger than in Serengeti. In other words you can probably spot more animals in shorter time than you will in Serengeti, which of course is much, much bigger.

Quite scenic and lots of wild animals to see

Our trip to the Ngorongoro Crater was fantastic!

Our trip to and stay at the Ngorongoro Crater was a very good part of our overall safari experience. This was our second stay at a high altitude lodge on our trip, so we were prepared for the temperature differential between the base of the crater and the rim. The varying terrain at the crater was fascinating, and there was a larger variety of wildlife than we originally anticipated. The accommodations we had were great - we stayed at the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge and I would highly recommend it. Our room looked out on the crater from the top of the rim, and we even had a few Waterbuck grazing right outside of our room early in the evening! Our guide was part of Grumeti Expeditions, and was very knowledgeable about the crater and the general area.

Overall, I would highly recommend including the Ngorongoro Crater as part of an overall safari package.