Ngorongoro

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area stretches from the Karatu Highlands to the Serengeti and covers an area of around 8300 sq km. Formed by the same immense geological upheavals as the Great Rift Valley, Ngorongoro was once a mountain as high as Kilimanjaro. About 3 million years ago, it blew up, covering the Serengeti in ash. The crater floor sank leaving the rim to form a natural enclosure 2,285 metres high.

While on a Ngorongoro Safari the most amazing experience is viewing the crater for the first time. As your vehicle slowly ascends through mountain forests you will feel it getting colder and colder. Eventually you reach the rim, and dropping sharply off in front of you is Ngorongoro Crater.

Ngorongoro Crater is the best self-contained safari destination in the world. The world's largest unbroken caldera, it is often referred to as the 'Garden of Eden'. The rich pasture and permanent water of the crater floor shelters a large population of animals. In fact, the crater floor is one of the most densely crowded game areas in the world and is home to about 30,000 animals. The open grassland makes it easy to police, so it is also a stronghold for endangered species like black rhino and cheetah.
  

Accommodations in Ngorongoro

Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge
The Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge is the only tourist development on the eastern rim of the crater and thus offers you unique and spectacular views down into the crater floor and of the sunsets from the west.

Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
High on the southwestern rim of Ngorongoro Crater, stands Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. With commanding views of the Crater, the lodge offers you three adjacent camps with 30 suites perched on stilts on the crater rim.

Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
The Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is built into the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, which allows the plant and ivy-covered native stone to blend masterfully with its surroundings.

Gibbs Farm
At the entrance to the Highlands, midway between Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, five kilometres from the village of Karatu, is Gibb's Farm.

Kisima Ngida
This small, tented camp is a great example of a well-run, owner-operated camp. It's set in the shade of a grove of doum palms, on the eastern shore of Lake Eyasi.

Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge
Perched on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at 2,286 meters above sea level (with a 600 m sheer drop down to the crater floor), the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge affords one of the greatest views of the crater.

Ngorongoro Farmhouse
A lodge facing the Oldeani Volcano, in Ololdukan, a 500 acre coffee farm located only 4 kms. from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Lolduare gate.

Ndutu Safari Lodge
Ndutu Safari Lodge is situated in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The lodge nestles under a canopy of giant acacias overlooking a soda lake, Lake Ndutu, and offers a superb base from which to explore the Serengeti.