The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Tanzania, covering 8,292 square kilometres of highland landscape that includes the Ngorongoro Crater, the Olduvai Gorge, and several other craters and highland areas. The Ngorongoro Crater itself is the world's largest intact volcanic caldera - a collapsed volcanic cone that created a natural enclosure of 260 square kilometres on the crater floor. The crater supports an estimated 25,000 animals including all of the Big Five and one of Africa's few remaining populations of black rhino. Unlike most national parks, the conservation area is also home to Maasai communities who continue to graze their livestock inside its boundaries.
The Ngorongoro Crater floor contains a mix of short grassland, acacia woodland, a soda lake, swamp, and forest patches - compressed into a relatively small area that creates exceptional wildlife density. Predators are concentrated and visible: the crater's lion prides are among the most studied in Africa. The soda lake on the floor attracts flamingos seasonally. Vehicle access to the crater floor requires a park permit and all vehicles must be out by 6pm.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area holds one of Tanzania's most viable black rhino populations. Sightings are not guaranteed - black rhino are shy and often remain in dense vegetation - but the crater is consistently one of the better places in East Africa to look for them. Dawn game drives give the best chance as rhino tend to be active in the early morning before retreating to shade.
Olduvai Gorge, within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, is one of the most significant paleoanthropological sites in the world. Archaeological excavations beginning in the 1930s revealed fossil remains spanning nearly 2 million years of human evolution. The site museum near the gorge gives context for the finds and can be included as a stop on the way between the Serengeti and the crater.
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