The Ngorongoro Crater has steep walls and even though it may be cold and foggy on the rim it is usually warm and sunny in its floor that is 2,000 feet below. During the descent we experience dramatic changes in scenery and temperature.
Experience Ngorongoro Conservation Area
This is a garden of Eden, packed with some 30,000 animals. The largest herds of animals we see today are wildebeest as they mingle with zebra and Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle.
Unlike their counterparts in the nearby Serengeti, the wildebeest and zebra living in the Ngorongoro do not migrate because water in the crater is plentiful year-round. We’re likely to see large herds of buffalo and sizeable numbers of eland, hartebeest, and waterbuck. Elephants most often browse near the Lerai forest and hippos grunt and snort as they sit out the heat of the day in the lakes. Ngorongoro is one of the few places in Africa where black rhinos can still be seen. Among the predators, there are five prides of black-maned lions with as many as 18 members in each pride. Cheetahs are often seen alone or in pairs. Hyenas and jackals abound. In the forest, at the crater’s rim, we may catch sight of an elusive leopard. Bird life around the crater is also prolific. More than a hundred species are found here that aren’t seen in the Serengeti. Ostriches, Kori bustards, and secretary birds stalk the grasslands. Pure-white egrets and red-billed ox-peckers scurry along the backs of buffalo. Crested cranes honk furiously as they launch into flight. Along the shores of Lake Magadi lesser flamingoes feed in the algae-rich waters.
