Ngorongoro Crater

The descend down the crater we see the hot spring and other species of animal, apart from that their is maasai tribe dealing with animal grazing across the crater

Ngorongoro is a beautiful compact park that is full of wildlife. The small size means that is it is easy to get around and see the variety on offer: from the larger grassland areas to the forest area inside the park. It is definitely worth a visit, however, the cost may be prohibitive to some on a budget.

Saw rhinos!woohoo

Incredible! My ranger was so knowledgeable of the history of this amazing site! And rhinos!

Fantastic!

From the first moment I was really impressed with the Ngorongoro Crater. It's kind of shocking being there in such a huge space surrounded by thousands of wild animals.
We saw from Elephants to lions, lots of zebras and many many more ...
We passed really close to a lion and even saw one eating a zebra, scary!
In total an amazing experience!

A unique opportunity to get close to the animals

The structure of the crater means that many animals are virtually trapped within the crater because the rim is so steep. This means that the ecosystem is unique with a richness of wildlife. The number of jeeps with guides is limited as is the number of days you can stay. This and the limited accommodation means that the crater is no overrun by tourists. This is the only place we saw rhinos. We also witnessed an attack by lions being beaten off by cape buffaloes. The guides communicated between themselves to get information on the latest sightings of interesting animals. The scenery is splendid but took second place to the wildlife. Accommodation in Rhino lodge on the rim was rustic but comfortable. On the rim the weather was cold and wet but inside the crater we had fine sunny weather.

This is an unique place.

Nogorongro Crater is one of the four safari destinations, Masa Mara, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Nogorongoro Crater, we visited this August (we also took a side trip to Victoria Fall). It has an unique landscape that is hard to describe. Our guide jokingly said it looked like Eden.
We stayed at Nogorongro Crater Lodge for 2 nights. Our cabin sits on the rim of the Crater. The swiping view of the crater from the room was breathtaking. The facility, the service and the food were very good.
The park even being a crater is not really isolated from outside area. The variety of wild life in other parks can all find here. It is just more densely packed in this small area. The game drive experience was similar to that of Serengeti or Masa Mara. The difference is that the floor is completely flat. There was no tall grass either when we visited. You could see the other end of the park miles away. Therefore it was easier to spot wild life activities far away. I saw ostrich mating dance at a far distance. With all the cars crisscross the crater floor, the animals quite get used to the tourists. Lions sat at the road side letting tourists taking closeup pictures. In short conclusion, if you want to see big migration, this is not the place, If you want to view African wild life in an unique landscape, this is the place.

Ngorongoro is a beautiful place to spot a variety of animals while at the same time being very busy when it comes to tourists. Since the caldera is very open and you can see from one end to the other easily, you can't avoid seeing all those safari vehicles. The wildlife makes up for that, though. On my most recent visit, we even managed to see a rhino.

Very interesting location - but very crowded with aggressive safari operators

The scenery was awesome - and there were a ton of animals, however after coming from the Tarangire, I was disappointed with a few things. First, there were more people in this small crater floor than there were in the entire Tarangire national park. Second, the safari operators on the floor were very aggressive with the animals. People were driving after lions as they tried to cross a road - blocking them from their prey. At one point a lion tried to move to a watering hole, and cars kept moving in front of her to get pictures until she turned around.

I don't think this is a problem with the crater specifically - just the number of people allowed in at once without any ranger support system to keep them in check leads itself to an environment that is not centered around what is best for the animals.

I had heard there was so much wildlife congregated in the crater but felt I saw more in other parks. Maybe it was the time of year, as we visited in the winter.