Ngorongoro crater

One of the most important paleontological sites in the world, Oduvai Gorge has preserved evidence of early people living there as long as 1.9 million years ago. The Olduvai Gorge Museum, often known as the “cradle of mankind,” is a museum that displays ancient stone tools and fossilized human bones. It is situated approximately midway between the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. The museum is 30 miles (50 km) long and 290 feet (90 meters) deep.

One of Tanzania’s most attractive attractions is this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The crater is home to more kinds of fauna per square kilometer than any other intact caldera in the world. The size of Tanzania’s crown jewel is 260 square kilometers, with a 20-kilometer diameter and a 610-meter depth. Over 25,000 creatures live in the crater, including herds of large mammals like elephants, buffaloes, elands, wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, hippos, and rhinos as well as carnivores like lions, hyenas, jackals, and cheetahs.

Numerous aquatic birds, including flamingos and pelicans, can be found in the ponds or tiny lakes on the crater floor. The woodlands surrounding the crater rim, which are separate from the crater floor, are home to leopards, reedbuck, warthogs, and forest birds, making it Africa’s top spot to observe the “Big Five” (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo).

Untouched by people and little seen, a magnificent destination can be found tucked away in a remote area of the Ngorongoro highlands in the east. While strolling down the forested hills to the lake beach below a birder’s paradise, experience, discover, and explore the Empakaai Crater. An experience apart from the masses is made possible by the journey to the crater floor.

Drive up to the crater rim and descend to the floor. The bulk of the crater floor is covered by a lovely lake, making it an excellent spot to stop and unwind while enjoying a picnic lunch. It’s common to observe flamingos on the lake’s shallow waters. The birdlife in this region is fantastic, and animals does pass through this area, so it’s crucial that you are with your safari guide. Make your way back up the wooded hills to the car after lunch so you may drive to your accommodation.

One of four volcanic craters in the Ngorongoro Highlands is Olmoti Crater. Although less impressive than Empakaai Crater and Ngorongoro Crater, Olmoti is the perfect location for off-the-beaten-path walking safaris. The grassy vegetation that cover its caldera floor draw grazing animals like reedbuck, eland, buffalo, and bushbuck. The so-called Munge waterfalls, a water cascade that plunges hundreds of meters into a deep ravine to form Munge River, are another attraction in Olmoti Crater in addition to the abundance of birds and the variety of vegetation.

The average duration of a walking tour to the crater rim is three hours, and a ranger with a weapon is always present. There are also longer, full-day hikes along the crater rim. Anytime of the year is a good time to visit Olmoti, but the drier months of July to December, when the roads are more supple, are recommended.

It is one of the older volcanoes in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and a component of the huge east African rift valley. Many choose to include the nearby Olmoti and Empakaai craters, as well as Oldoinyo Lengai, on a lengthier walk that also includes the Kerimasi crater and ends as far north as Lake Natron. Although it is always possible to go hiking, it is more pleasant to do so in the dry seasons. Every year, this occurs from July through January, however there may be brief downpours in December.

The Laetoli Footprints are the world’s oldest prehistoric human footprints that have been discovered. 25 miles southwest of Olduvai Gorge, in the Conservation Area, is the location of Laetoli. Two early hominid ancestors through wet volcanic ash in Laetoli around 3.6 million years ago. The oldest footprints of early humans were covered and preserved when the adjacent volcano erupted again.

Australopithecus afarensis, an upright-walking hominid, is thought to have left three distinct tracks in the Laetoli Footprints. About 70 prehistoric human footprint impressions can be seen throughout the nearly 27-meter-long footprint track. The Olduvai Museum features replicas of these footprints.

On the western edge of Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Lake Ndutu and Lake Masek are near the border of Serengeti National Park. Water collects in small basins between the two lakes from surrounding, slightly higher altitude locations. Both lakes’ water is quite salty, and the majority of it evaporates during the dry season.

The area around the lakes serves as a staging location and point of departure for the migration because it is surrounded by short-grass plains and forests, which offer plenty of cover and food.

Ndutu is ideally located in the middle of the southern plains, offering typically the best animal viewing during the green season, despite the local region being covered with a forest of acacia trees. Many eminent writers, filmmakers, and wildlife biologists have made Ndutu their preferred vacation spot since it is the hub of the migration from December to April.

A 7 square mile (18 km2) alkaline crater lake, Lake Magadi is part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Thousands of lesser flamingos frequently live there, and it receives its water from a creek that empties Olmoti crater in the north as well as from rainfall. Witness the amazing sight of tens of thousands of pink flamingos posing for photos and reflected in the quiet waters. Along the shoreline, a variety of creatures can be seen, including lions, elands, and rhinos. Additionally, the shoreline is a fantastic location to see golden jackals, which frequently hunt flamingos.

In the far northern section of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are the Gol Mountains. One of the area’s earliest geological formations, these mountains comprise a collection of ridges. They were created millions of years before Ngorongoro Crater, rising to a height of 915m from the wide short-grass plains.

The scenery is ancient, and the landscape is breathtaking. The broad flowing valleys are dominated by enormous mountains, canyons, and amazing rock formations.

They grow lush, green, and flower-filled in the rain. Beautiful, large trees offer the game an umbrella of shade. The area appears mysterious and enchanted because to the mountains’ ability to hold onto rain, the creation of storm clouds, and the extraordinary light.