Ngorongoro Crater

‘The Garden of Eden’ – Ngorongoro Crater.

• Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact caldera, a cooking pot shaped collapsed volcano, in the world, with a crater 259 square kilometres (100 square miles) in area and with walls 600 meters (1970 feet) in height.
• Ngorongoro Crater is situated in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, Africa.
• It is believed that the Ngorongoro Crater volcano was originally taller than, or as high as Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the highest mountains in the world.
• Ngorongoro Crater is host to approximately 30,000 to 40,000 birds and animals, most notably some stunning pink flamingos and the rare black rhino.
• In the centre of the Ngorongoro Crater is a salt-water lake by the name of ‘Makat’ or ‘Magadi’, and to the east of the crater is a spring named Ngoitokitok Spring.

Ngorongoro Crater
Image courtesy of William Warby/Flickr

• The Ngorongoro Crater sees approximately 450,000 tourists a year, who are required to be accompanied by a guide and a permit.
• ‘Ngorongoro Crater’ is also known as the ‘Garden of Eden’, due to the crater’s beauty and it being a paradise for animals.
• Many significant fossils have been found in the area surrounding the Ngorongoro Crater, some of which can be found in a nearby museum, and burial mounds have been found in the crater itself.
• Ngorongoro Crater became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, as part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which also includes two other craters.
• A native African tribe, Masaii, can be found in the area of the Ngorongoro Crater, and the crater has the highest density of lions in the world.

Bibliography:
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, 2013, UNESCO World Heritage, <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/39>

 Ngorongoro Crater, n.d., Base Camp Tanzania, <http://www.basecamptanzania.com/NP_NgorongoroCrater.htm>

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