What animals to see

The Ngorongoro is the best place in Tanzania to see the big five. The prize spot in this territory includes a healthy population of black rhinoceros and some of the largest elephants remaining in Africa today. The crater is also home to a diverse set of lions, leopad, and hyenas along with herds of wildebeest, hartesebeest, buffalo, and zebra. Other game in the Ngorongoro includes serval cat, cheetah, jackal, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle, flamingo and bat eared foxes along with approximately 400 species of bird. The territory of Ngorongoro Conservation Area includes the area from Crater Highlands to teh Serengeti and the northern shore of Lake Eyasi. The volcanic movement which resulted in the formation of the Great Rift Valley are also responsible for formation of Ngorongoro Crater. It is theorized to have been as high as Mount Kilimanjaro at one point in time. The eruption occurred approximately 3 million years ago and covered whole of Serengeti in ash, leaving a large crater in the ceneter. This is what we today know as Ngorongoro Crater which is the largest intact caldera in the world with a diameter of around 18 km and surface area of about 260 sq km. The steep crater ridge is more than 600m at its highest point. The crater floor is an earthly paradise and, with about 30,000 animals, one of the most populous wildlife areas in the world. Because the area is enclosed and the flat crater floor is mainly open grassland, it is easy to manage, with the result that it is a stronghold of endangered species, including the black rhino and the cheetah. There are no giraffes, topi or impala in the crater. These animals find the rocky areas too difficult to use and there is insufficient grass for large herds of antelope. The main prey animals are wildebeest, zebra and buffalo and the main predators are the lions and spotted hyenas. In the open savannah a hunt can be followed quite easily, and is especially interesting as it seems that in Ngorongoro, contrary to what one might expect, the hyenas are the aggressive hunters and the lions are the carrion eaters. In the southwest of the conservation area lies Lake Magadi which is a large shallow soda lake inhabited by countless pink flamingos along with water fowl and hippopotamus. The magnificent Ngorongoro Crater is only a small fragment of the bigger Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Other attractions inside the park are two lesser-known craters known as Olmoti and Empakaai. An added advantage of visiting these craters is that you’ll be able to descend all the way to the foot of Olmoti or the rim of Empakaai either by walking or driving. At its western rim, Olmoti rises about 3073 m and is reachable by walking through bush and grassy tussocks layered with flowers. An additional highlight of the area is the Munge Falls, which flow through a cleft on the Crater’s southern side. The stream cascades down steep cliffs, hundreds of metres into a ravine. From the edge of the crater the road twists downwards towards the Serengeti through rolling grass plains and acacia forests. About 30 kilometres from the crater, there is a narrow road to the Olduvai Gorge. At the site of the gorge, which is approximately 90 metres deep, there was once a lake. Over the years, the lake was covered with thick layers of volcanic ash, which preserved the remains of early humanity. To be so close to where mankind may have begun is an inspiring experience, especially when you see the famous Laetoli footprints, made by early humans some 3.6 million years ago.