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Ngorongoro Crater |
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| Brief Profile: |
- The crater is 8,292 sq km, varying in altitude from 1,020 to 3,587 metres
- The crater is 19.2 km in diameter and 610 metres deep
- It is 261 sq km, contains a soda lake and abounds with wildlife
- Rainfall in the Ngorogoro Highlands supplies Lake Manyara
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Regarded as the 8th wonder of the world. Granted the status as a World Heritage Site in 1978 and an international Biosphere Reserve in 1981, it is one of the most diverse and fascinating areas of Tanzania.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area stretches from the Karatu Highlands to the Serengeti and down to the northern tip of Lake Eyasi, covering some 8,300 sq. km (3,205 sq. miles).
The crater was 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 itself to bits, covering the Serengeti in ash while the crater floor sank into the mountain. Today, the rim stands at a crisp 2,285 meters (7,497 ft). The Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest complete volcanic caldera, with a diameter of about 18km (11 miles) and an area of 260 sq. km (100 sq. miles). The sheer-sided rim is just over 600 meters (1,969 ft) at its highest point. |
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Ngorongoro is a Maasai word, some say it mimics the clatter of cow bells, others that it is a traditional name for a type of bowl, similar in shape to the crater. The colourful Maasai are the traditional owners of the area, although they are relative newcomers, having forced the Mbulu and Datoga out of the area around 200 years ago. Two German brothers farmed the crater floor for a short while in the early 20th century, but when the area was first incorporated into the Serengeti National park in 1951, around 12,00 Maasai lived in the crater. A deal was struck that turned Ngorongoro into a Conservation Area, rather than a National Park, allowing them to continue to water their animals on the crater floor, in exchange for moving out and receiving a share of the profits from tourism.
The crater floor is a true Shangri-La, one of the most densely crowded game areas in the world, home to an estimated 30,000 animals. Because it is enclosed and the flat crater floor is largely made up of open grassland, the area is a stronghold for endangered species including black rhino and increasingly cheetah. There are no giraffe, topi or impala in the crater - they find it too difficult to negotiate the cliffs, and there is insufficient grazing for large herds of antelope. The usual prey animals are wildebeest, zebra and buffalo.
In the southwestern corner, Lake Magadi is a large, shallow soda lake, home to a plentiful supply of flamingos as well as hippos and other water birds, which can also be seen in the central Mandusi Swamp. The Lerai Forest of fever trees, in the south, is the best place in the park to see elephants. Only bull elephants descend into the crater itself, the breeding herds hang around in the dense forests on the rim. |
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| Places of interest: |
- Empakaai Crater: 6km (4 mile) wide, 300 meter (980 ft) high volcanic crater largely filled by a soda lake. There is a road around the rim and into the crater, but both are rough, and a four-wheel drive is strongly advised.
- Olduvai Gorge: About 30km from the crater, a small road on the right leads to the Olduvai Gorge. The Olduvai Gorge Museum is 3km (2 miles) off the road. The area takes its name from the spiky wild sisal plants known to the Maasai as oldupai. The gorge, which is about 90 meters (295 ft) deep, lies on the site of an ancient lake, covered by thick layers of volcanic ash which have carefully preserved some of the world's earliest records of mankind. About 100,000 years ago, seismic activity split the earth, creating the gorge and laying bare the rich fossil beds. These were discovered in 1911 by a German professor named Katwinkle while he was out hunting for butterflies. He carried out one small dig in 1913, but little else was done until Louis and Mary Leakey arrived in 1931.
Archaeologists have been working here ever since, and have made many of prehistory's most famous and influential discoveries in the canyon walls. Standing in the gorge, you are as close as you can get to the cradle of humanity.
- Shifting Sands: A few kilometers from the museum, the extraordinary Shifting Sands are a couple of black volcanic sand dunes, which slowly meander across the plains, according to the winds. The Maasai regard them as a place of meditation.
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