Ngorongoro Crater

Incredible! The pictures I took here are the ones that everyone cannot believe are real. Lions so close I could hear them breathing. Hippos, Hyeana, Serval Cat, Flamingos, Jackals, Baboons...just everything. Beyond belief. We stayed at Serena Ngorongoro and it was very nice and had an amazing view.

We saw Rhino's, make sure you go early and go through the forrest first to catch the Rhino's and Elephants on their way to the water holes in the morning.

The most fascinating part of Ngorongoro is the first look you get upon cresting the rim of the crater. You can see miles in each direction, and down 600 metres to the floor.
Most of the Big-5 is on display – we did not see a leopard, but experienced our only rhinoceros sighting here. But for whatever reason, the feel is more like an extremely large zoo. The animals seem to keep to themselves and not interact with each other significantly.
Also within the Ngorongoro conservation area is a scattering of Masai villages, and it is fascinating to see how the villagers live. Finally, Ngorongoro is the location of Olduvai Gorge, which is an incredible archaeological site for human evolution.

great animal sightings; very crowded; hotels atmosphere in many locations

Similar to the Serengeti in terms of numbers of tourists, this open expanse is dramatically set in a crater and full of wildlife. The weather wasn't great when we were there, in part thanks to its altitude.

We saw a lioness make a kill at one point, which was inevitably quite exciting, though our view was obstructed at points by the other 4x4s that were gathered on the path ahead of us. I would have liked more time here.

Its very scenic and you'll see a lot of animals, even the rare Rhino. the negative part is there will be a lot of tourists around

You see a lot of wildlife. And a lot of tourists. Coming down into the crater is of great beauty. Awesome scenery. The animals are almost half tame. In Selous you can't approach a wildebeest closer than 50 or 100 m. Here it sits still on the road as you drive by. Huge agglomerations of wildlife and some pieces of dusty empty plains with just some animals. It's good to get your close up photos. Not to see rare animals. Some birds to see, not too spectacular - except for lunch steeling black kites. Expect to see at least 20+ 4x4 at any time. Everything worth looking at has a group of vehicles around it.

A fantastic ecosystem to explore. You would think that the wildlife would be content to remain in the Crater but they make nightly visits to the Serena Lodge which is perched right on the Crater rim.

Ngorongoro has a huge number of wild animals within a fairly small space.

Amazing experience

I found NCA a magnificent park. Unique scenary, wild animals basically everywhere and easily to spot and see while they e.g. move, drink from the lake, hunt, rest.
1/2 days in ngorongoro is in my opinion enough as the crater is not that big. Accomodation is somewhat expensive and one may consider staying in one of the villages just outisde the NCA for good accomodation at molre reasonable prices. A trek on the Empakai crater possibly walking , guided by a masai, as far as lake natron is an amazing experience.