NGORONGORO CRATER, Tanzania — at Ngorongoro Crater in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, part of Tanzania's northern circuit of national parks and nature preserves.
Photograph by David Coleman. The Ngorongoro Crater, located in northern Tanzania, is one of Africa's most remarkable natural wonders and a testament to the raw beauty and ecological diversity of the continent. This vast, unbroken caldera, formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, is the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera. Measuring approximately 610 meters (2,000 feet) deep and spanning about 260 square kilometers (100 square miles), the Ngorongoro Crater forms a natural enclosure for a wide variety of wildlife. The crater floor, with its diverse habitats including grasslands, swamps, forests, and Lake Magadi (a central soda lake), supports an estimated 25,000 large animals. This "Garden of Eden" is home to all of the "Big Five" – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and buffalo. It's one of the few places in Africa where visitors have a realistic chance of seeing all five in a single day. The crater also hosts one of the densest known populations of lions and is a crucial sanctuary for the endangered black rhinoceros. The Ngorongoro Crater is part of the larger Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which covers 8,292 square kilometers (3,202 square miles) and was established in 1959 as a multiple land-use area. It's one of the few places in Tanzania where human habitation is allowed in a protected wildlife area, aiming to promote the coexistence of human development and wildlife conservation. The Maasai people, with their distinctive culture and traditional lifestyle, have been an integral part of the Ngorongoro landscape for centuries. Their presence adds a unique cultural dimension to the area's natural attractions. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority works to balance the needs of the Maasai community with wildlife conservation efforts. Beyond its ecological significance, the Ngorongoro area is also of immense paleoanthropological importance. The nearby Olduvai Gorge, often called
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Location: Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Arusha, Tanzania
Photo credit: © David Coleman | Have Camera Will Travel / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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