Ngorongoro Conservation Area ranks well among Africa’s must-visit safari destinations like Serengeti, Masai Mara, Kruger Park, Etosha, and the Okavango Delta. The Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s most famous sites and is said to have the highest density of wildlife in Africa.

Together with Serengeti and Selous Game Reserve, Ngorongoro is Tanzania’s third UNESCO World Heritage Site and undoubtedly the eighth Wonder of the World, the Crater has achieved world renown, attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors each year. You are unlikely to escape other vehicles here, but you are guaranteed great wildlife viewing in a genuinely mind-blowing environment.

The outstanding feature that gives the conservation area its monstrous Ngorongoro Crator, lying in the Biosphere Reserve in northern Tanzania. The crator covers 8,300 square Kilometres (3,204 square miles). The conservation area was planned to accommodate traditional Maasai communities and sustainable tourism. You’ll see Maasai villagers grazing their sheep, goats, and cattle all over the plains.

Ngorongoro Crater lies in a nest of other ominously smoking volcanoes that border the north and west of the conservation area with the Serengeti National Park. The crator is a collapsed volcano whose original volcano, probably higher than Kilimanjaro, collapsed in on itself and now forms a perfect basin.

Once you drive into the Crater’s vastness, you’ll feel at the bottom of a soup bowl with vertically steep sides. The 18 km (11 miles) diameter basin lies 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the rim that towers about 2,200 meters (7,217 feet) above sea level.

The crater is believed to have formed some 2 million years ago. It harbors an astonishing variety of landscapes and natural features, including forests, peaks, craters, valleys, rivers, lakes, and plains. You’ll also find Africa’s most important archaeological site, Olduvai (Oldupai) Gorge, within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a few kilometers north of the Crater.

The steep and bumpy drive into the Crater begins high up in the forest. What kills the experience down the crater for many first-time travelers is the sheer number of safari vehicles that clamber into the Crater at opening hours, creating often dusty drives. But once you’ve driven from the masses, the charm of this site slowly showers you with awe.

The conservation area has a lush highland forest that looks like a rainforest. It’s a mist forest relying on the regular and abundant mist and drizzle from the crater. Looking closely enough, you’ll see mist particles swirling like raindrops among the ancient trees.

Pillar wood trees stand sentinel over the figs, the croton trees, evergreen highland Bersama, and wild tobacco purple flowers. The tree trunks and branches support thousands of epiphytes, including specialized plants such as arboreal orchids and ferns. These plants cling to their hosts and absorb moisture with their aerial roots. Even orchids hide among the curtains of tree moss or Old Man’s Beard (as they are locally known).

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Monkeys, bushbuck, bushpigs, and elephants frequent the forest, although you’ll unlikely see them. A common site is the hardworking gardeners but zebras and buffaloes beautifully mowing the lawns at some crator lodge compounds. After dark, the ungulates seek sanctuary from predators by hanging out here, and it’s not the dogs you will hear barking after sundown but the warning calls of vigilant zebras and baboons.

On the Crater’s floor spreads a vast flamingo-filled alkaline lake. The shores hold the highest concentration of predators worldwide, including lions, hyenas, jackals, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, and enormous herds of ungulates.

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Big-time predators in Ngorongoro Conservation Area expend very little energy in hunting massive herds of prey like Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, impalas, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeests. Prides of bloated lions lying on their backs, paws in the air, fully stuffed and embarrassingly damaging their noble Kingly image, are a common sight.

Ngorongoro also has endangered rhinos among its abundant wildlife; a real prize to see one in the wild. You may spot the black and white rhino species on a game drive, but they are not easy to spot. Ngorongoro Crater is also a great place to take a boat safari down one of the hippo-dense rivers.

Birdlife is also spectacular, with some endemic species: the Rufous-tailed weaver, Schalow’s wheatear, and large flocks of the magnificent crowned cranes. If you’re a birder, let your tour operator know beforehand so that they can assign you a guide that understands birds and where to spot them.