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Ngorongoro National Park

Ngorongoro, Tanzania

Measuring around 14 miles in diameter, the Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact volcanic caldera and is home to a remarkable diversity of animals including dense populations of large mammals.


Ngorongoro was formed around 20 million years ago during the process that created the Rift Valley. There are around 25,000 large animals in the crater, among them many zebras and wildebeest.

Lions, buffalos, elephants, and rhinos are regularly sighted. Leopards, cheetahs, numerous hyenas, warthogs, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles and elands are just some of the other species to be found here.

The crater's soda lake, Lake Magadi, attracts large numbers of colourful flamingos along with a wide variety of other birds. The Mandusi Swamp is a great place to see many bird species including various waders, storks, ducks and heron. Enormous kori bustard, ostrich, crowned crane and migrant storks are found amid the grasslands. Birds of prey include the augur buzzard and the long crested eagle.

To the south of the lake is Lerai Forest, a large wooded area consisting mainly of yellow fever trees (giant acacias with a yellowish bark). To the south and east of the lake is the Gorigor Swamp, which supports a permanent pod of hippos at the Ngoitokitok Springs.

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