Tanzania / Northern Safari Circuit / Ngorongoro CraterNgorongoro Crater
A Collapsed Volcano Full of Wildlife
A 20 km-wide volcanic caldera 600 m deep, with some 25,000 animals on its floor: lions, elephants, buffalo, hyenas, flamingos on Lake Magadi and the best chance on the northern circuit of a black rhino. Most visitors sleep in Karatu, 30-45 minutes below the rim among coffee farms (cheaper lodges, outside the conservation area), and descend early for a half or full day; the rim lodges are dearer and colder (2,300 m: bring a fleece). Fees: the conservation area's US$70.80 a person per 24 hours and a crater service fee of US$295 per vehicle per descent. The Ndutu plains of the conservation area are where the wildebeest calve from January to March.
Highlights
- Crater-floor game drive at dawn
- Black rhino on the crater floor
- Flamingos on Lake Magadi
- Lions and hyenas on the open grassland
- Picnic by the Ngoitoktok hippo pool
- Olduvai Gorge, the cradle of mankind
- Karatu coffee farm
Things to do
- Ngorongoro Crater floor game driveMorning · 6h
- Olduvai Gorge museumAfternoon · 1h 30m
- Karatu coffee farm walkAfternoon · 2h
- Crater-rim viewpoint at sunsetEvening · 1h
Tours & tickets
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When to go
Best time: June – October, December – March
Heads up
Migration: Calving Season at Ndutu
From about January to March the wildebeest herds are on the short-grass plains of the southern Serengeti and Ndutu, in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where some half a million calves are born, most in February, with lions, cheetahs and hyenas following. Stay at a camp in the Ndutu area, or allow 2-3 hours each way from Seronera or Karatu. The central Seronera valley still has its resident cats.
Worth knowing
Long Rains: Muddy Tracks, Some Camps Closed
April and May are the long rains: heavy downpours most afternoons, muddy and sometimes impassable tracks, and some camps and lodges closed. The animals are still there (Ngorongoro Crater is good all year) and lodges cut their rates by a third or more, but allow extra time on the roads and pick a lodge that is open.
Heads up
Ngorongoro Crater Fees and Time Limit
On top of the conservation area's US$70.80 a person per 24 hours, each vehicle pays a crater service fee of US$295 per descent, and may stay on the crater floor for about six hours. Go down at the 06:00 opening for the best light and fewest vehicles. Fees are paid by card through your operator.
- Christmas and New Year peak — The busiest fortnight of the year in Zanzibar and on the northern circuit: lodges set peak rates and minimum stays, Zanzibar resorts add gala dinners, and Kilimanjaro climbs fill. Book lodges, bush flights and the climb by September or October.
Part of a longer route
Ngorongoro Crater is a stop on a curated circuit through Tanzania.