Tanzania · East Africa
Ngorongoro and the crater highlands.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed caldera holding a resident population of game year-round, including some of the last black rhino in the north.
Photo Justin Lane / Unsplash
It is a half-day rather than a stay: vehicles descend into the crater floor for a game drive and come back up to lodges on the rim. Its density is extraordinary and its popularity shows, so timing the descent matters.
The wider conservation area includes Olduvai Gorge, one of the most significant palaeoanthropological sites in the world, and the Empakaai and Olmoti craters for walking.
What is here
Elsewhere in Tanzania
- The SerengetiThe Serengeti is the ecosystem the wildebeest migration moves through, and it is large enough that where you stay decides what you see.
- Tarangire and Lake ManyaraTarangire is baobab and elephant country and the northern circuit's most underrated park; Lake Manyara is a short, scenic stop beneath the Rift escarpment.
- The southern and western circuitsNyerere, Ruaha, Katavi and Mahale are Tanzania's wild end — far larger, far emptier, and considerably harder to reach.
- Zanzibar and the coastZanzibar is the standard finish to a Tanzanian safari — a Swahili archipelago with a World Heritage capital and a long history of its own.
Start planning your adventure