The Ngorongoro Crater

3 days

duration

All Year

Season

The smallest place in the world where you will find the Big 6 all together

You go down a steep path until you reach a plain, you turn your head 360º and you realize that you are inside the caldera of a crater with 600m high walls. And inside you are waiting for the Big 6 of Africa: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros and hippopotamus. Be careful.

The Ngorongoro crater is the delimited area of least extension in which it is possible to find the Big 6 Animals.

The Ngorongoro crater is one of the largest volcanic calderas in the world. It was formed when a gigantic volcan exploded and collapsed two or three million years ago. The caldera is a huge bowl with walls over 600 meters high, covered with forests, and with a flat and fertile soil of about 260 km2. This particular natural world is organized in several ecosystems – forests, savannahs, lakes and marshes, salt ponds, arid lands … -, embedded in an area that does not exceed 20 kilometers in diameter.

DEPATURE PLACE

Johannesburg

ARRIVAL PLACE

Arusha

ARRIVAL TIME

1,5 h flight

TRAVELLER PROFILE

Inclusive Families with children

INCLUDED

Internal flight	Hotel and meals
Local transportation	Professional guide

NOT INCLUDED

Alcoholic drinks

Tips

DEPARTURE PLACE

Arusha

The Ngorongoro was declared a conservation area in 1959 when it was separated from the Serengeti National Park.

The area became a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1979. On July 31, 2010, the protection zone was extended to the archaeological remains that have been located inside the park, in the Oldupai Gorge, one of the sites most important places for the investigation of the evolution of the human species, which include traces and remains of the Homo Habilis, being classified as mixed, natural and cultural heritage.

Arrival

When you arrive in Arusha, Kilimanjaro international airport, a private jeep will be waiting for you. Depending on the time of arrival, the usual thing will be that we spend the night in a hotel on the outskirts of the city. We recommend the Arusha Coffee Lodge.

Day 2

Breakfast at the lodge. The next day, early, we would leave for the Ngorongoro conservation area in a distance of about 180km. About 4 hours.

En route we will visit the Lake Manyara National Park. An area with a great diversity of landscapes; The shores of Lake Manyara are habited by buffalo, elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and a large number of birds. There will be a picnic lunch at a technical stop along the way.

Another option will be to take a plane from Arusha to Ngorongoro Airstrip. A journey of 30 ‘. It depends on the budget you want to spend. In the early afternoon we will arrive at our chosen hotel. We will check in and we will have the afternoon to rest and enjoy the panoramic views of the crater.

Day 3

We will have breakfast in the Lodge, enjoying the views that the morning gives us and we will leave soon towards the entrance to the Crater. The entrance is on the opposite side where we are housed. At the entrance we will be stopped by the rangers and we will have to give them the tickets and fees, quite expensive by the way, and we will start the descent. That is where we will spend all day, eating in one of the 3 picnic areas in the crater itself is included. A full day enjoying the wild life in its purest state. Once there, there are no words to describe the joy of observing the incredible amount of animals together. It is a festival. In the afternoon, before nightfall, we are required to leave. We will go uphill following the exit route, through which we will arrive right next to our Lodge.