Ngorongoro Crater

Utterly breathtaking! You have to see it to believe it. The crater rim vista is jaw dropping gorgeous. The drive down into the crater is a 360 degree scene of wonder. A multitude of wildlife to be seen in the basin.

The largest self contained ecosystem in the world deserves a look. It does get crowded but it is lovely day trip with lunch picnic in the crater. The animals here do not migrate and for some reason there are no Giraffes! The landscape is unique as you descend 2000 ft into the crater. It usually visited along with other areas like Tarangire and Manyara.

Great wildlife but didn't feel natural

Most likely wouldn't have written this if it wasn't for my mixed feelings. I'm glad I went there as a Tanzania safari is not complete with visiting the crater but it doesn't come even close to Serengeti. Yes, a lot of people complain about it being crowded with tourists but that wasn't the only problem. Seeing the Masai and their cattle right next to the wildebeest and zebras was also strange. Add to this the fact that the place is a small, very open enclosure hemmed in by mountains on all sides and you end up losing that "jungle" vibe that you get when you visit Serengeti or Tarangire.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's an excellent place to see wildlife-but the combination of geographic and human factors just make it feel like too much of a zoo.

A once in a lifetime experience

Our visit to Ngorongoro crater was in the middle of a safari trip from Arusha to Serengeti and back but we can say it was the high point of the trip, an amazing experience with such an scenery and amazing will life, you can not miss the Ngorongoro National Park if you visit Tanzania. Our accommodation was at the Rhino Lodge and it was a must, highly recommended!

Beautiful, Densely Packed With Diverse Wildlife (and people)

Ngorongoro Crater was absolutely beautiful. The view from the rim down into the crater was great, and the diversity and density of wildlife in the crater was stunning. Climbing down the crater wall you see out across the fields of the crater and there are herds of antelope, wildebeest, zebra and buffalo as far as the eye can see. It was incredible to see all of the animals flourishing in such close proximity to one another; at any given point when we were stopped to view some particular animal there were countless others we could see from the same location.

The only downside was that with this density comes also a density of people; there were cars simply everywhere. It did not detract from the experience overly much but it was certainly crowded.

One of the most beautiful places we have ever visited - sunrise overlooking the crater was spectacular

Beautiful separate wild world in our world.

I will never forget early morning cloud fall into the crater. The clearest view of wild animals in plains I saw on this Kenya-Tanzania trip. And finally, I saw real Simba at the end of my trip in Ngora Ngora crater (9th day). Highly recommending for wild life photographers.
...and of course, cup of hot tea in the hotel balcony in the sunset with all crater before you.

Amazing but also abit like Disney land, its almost too good to be true! You'll see the big 5 within an hour and the landscape is very dramatic. But its quite poor for birding and also feels abit enclosed and claustrophobic compared to other parks.

Lovely area, fantastic views, plenty of big cats.

Undoubtedly the most impressive safari park I've been so far! The scenery is outstanding and the enormous crater is full of wild animals. We've seen a lion hiding to attack a huge herd of zebras, lions walking near to our safari jeep, foxes, ostriches, kori bustards, hippopotamuses, African buffaloes, elephants, waterbucks, flamingoes, etc. If you like nature and wildlife and you're in Tanzania, this is a must do!