Ngorongoro Crater National Park Day Tour

Descend Into a Blue/Green World Thick With Wildlife

Starting from/returning to your Arusha area hotel, private residence, or the airport. We’ll pick you up at 7:00 am for a full-day safari in the comfort of a private 4 x 4 Land Cruiser Jeep.   

What can you say about the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera? When safari-goers speak about the Ngorongoro Crater words like ‘gorgeous’, ‘astonishing’, and ‘breathtaking’ follow. For the Ngorongoro is a unique thriving world bursting with colorful habitats and home to over 25,000 large mammals.

This World Heritage Site and “Eighth Wonder of the World” is perhaps the best place to see all of Africa’s “Big Five” wildlife as they thrive in a relatively small area of just 264 sq. km (101 sq. mi). Get ready for an adventurous day perhaps like no other in Africa… if not the world.

We’ll Descend the Crater Wall

Standing at the Crater’s rim you’ll gaze upon a colorful universe below, cut off from the rest of the continent. And as you descend the steep 2000 feet of the crater wall you’ll emerge into an awaiting land of forest, marsh, grassland, and lakes, each supporting its special wildlife.

At the Lerai Forest, thick with acacia trees we’ll be greeted by baboons, monkeys, waterbucks, and great tusker bull elephants. And occasional leopards.

We’ll visit Lake Magdi, home to thousands of bright fuchsia flamingoes, gathered on the floor of this extinct volcano. At Ngoitoktok Springs,  the hippos will invite us to lunch at this excellent picnic spot.

The Grasslands

Another sweeping habitat down here on the crater floor is the grasslands, hosting thousands of wildebeests, zebras, and gazelles. We’ll travel these plains also tracking for buffalo and serval cats.

But throughout our day moving through these rich environments, we’ll always be on the lookout for lions as the crater is one of the best spots in Tanzania to spot them on the prowl or enjoying a bit of rest after the hunt.

Not to be overlooked at Ngorongoro is the rich and profuse birdlife. Adding yet more color to our safari, we’ll be looking for egret, ostrich, firefinch, and raptors like the augur buzzard, tawny eagle, and white-backed vulture.

And if all those colorful forms were not enough, in the late afternoon we’ll climb back up the crater walls to catch one of Ngorongoro’s signature sunsets at the rim. A spectacular finish to this brilliant one-day tour.