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.

One of the seven natural wonders of Africa. The crater is amazing and a must see when you are in Tanzania.

Excelent, excelent, excelent but a little bit expensive.

Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most unique places I have ever seen. You literally are deep inside of an extinct volcano crater that is so massive you could fit three Washington, DC's inside of it. The best place in the world to see Black Rhinos in the wild. It was almost like being in a natural theme park. An incredible place that must be given two days minumum to enjoy. So much to see and the animals have little movement so they are easy to find. But the rhinos are scarce even in the crater. I could have spent a week here and still wanted more. An incredible experience.

A relatively small area with quite concentrated wildlife populations. This is your only realistic chance of seeing a rhino! If you like your birds you will see a lot of kori and black kites. We also saw lots of lions and even a serval cat here!

Just spectacular.

Beautiful park and the chance to see rhinos. Amazing sunsets, and wonderful accommodations.

Nature at its finest comes to life

The Ngorongoro Crater is truly a magical place. Our guide called it the eighth wonder of the world and he was correct. Having come off of a five day safari in the Serengeti the crater was our last visit. It was by far in my opinion the best. The animals are plentiful for sure. There is about 9 lion prides in the crater along with their neighbors hyenas, jackals, vultures, zebras, wildebeests, cape buffalo, hippo. leopard and the ever elusive rhino, etc... the crater is one of the few places you will have the opportunity to view a rhino in the wild. The guide indicated there were at least 16 in the park. We got the chance to only see one in person. This rounded out the big 5 in Tanzania for our tour.

The highlight for me is always the big cats. We were fortunate to see a live kill of a cape buffalo by one of the prides. Visible there were three males, two females and three cubs taking part in the feast. I have photos showing the feast commencing. It is was also interesting to note the dynamics among species. For example the it was clear the hyenas were alerting the lions to the fact the vultures were approaching. As a reward the lions allow the hyena to take part in the feast. The jackals had to wait their turn as did the vultures. Seeing a kill on TV is one thing, seeing it in person is entirely different you will not want to look away.

The Ngorongoro Crater is an unfilled volcanic caldera. We drove down about 2000 feet to get to the floor of the crater. This takes about 30 mins. There is a salt lake in the center and other tributaries that support the biodiversity in the area. The ride through the park can be rough. For the most part we arrived early in the day so it was overcast but that did not lessen the experience.

Again for me it was about the animals so to share what you will see in order of plenty:
Wildebeest-- many (and you get real close to them)
Zebra-- many (and you get real close to them)
Hippo -- many (and you get real close to them)
Lions -- many (and you get real close to them but from the truck!)
Hyenas -- many
Jackals -- many
Rabbits--many
Cape Buffalo --many
Leopard -- few
Rhino --few

Overall I highly recommend the tour. Do not settle for the 2 hour tour either. It will take you 30 mins down and 30 mins up. Take a day tour wherever possible. It is well worth it.

The Crater is one of the most picturesque, enchanting sites that we have ever encountered.

Our first view of this area was absolutely breath-taking. The whole Ngorongoro Conservation Area is lush and green, but when we 1st saw the Crater, we could not believe how beautiful it was. A few days later, we worked our way down the embankment, & experienced a diverse range of wildlife, fauna and geography. We were also lucky enough to see a wildebeest give birth to a calf. The lodge just outside the Crater was also delightful. My wife and I are extremely glad we saw this site and highly recommend it to anyone else thinking about a safari.

A wonder of the world

The crater Ngonrongoro is one of those places on Earth that once in your life you must see. It seems to be almost a paradise for animals. In the same pool of water you can see a few meters away hyenass, warthogs, buffalos, elephantss, craness, wildebeests, gazelless, impala and more. Everything in this place is perfect including lodges.