6 of our itineraries spend time in Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Every one is private, and every one can be changed.
Places Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro
Four days from Arusha through Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, in a private…
Places Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Olduvai Gorge
Six days with two full days in the Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge on the way in and the Ngorongoro Crater to…
Places Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, Lake Eyasi
Seven days through Tarangire, Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, ending with a morning at Lake…
Places Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti
Seven days pairing the parks with cultural time: Lake Manyara, Lake Eyasi, the Ngorongoro Crater and the…
Places Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro
Eight days built around the herds: Lake Manyara, Ndutu in the calving season, two days in the Serengeti…
Places Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro
Nine days across the northern circuit at an unhurried pace: Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, two nights at…
The Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed volcano about 600 metres deep, with a floor of around 260 square kilometres. Inside that bowl live some 25,000 large animals. It is the one place in Tanzania where you can expect lion, elephant, buffalo and black rhino in a single morning.
A crater day starts early. You leave your lodge on the rim or in Karatu before sunrise and drive down the descent road as the mist lifts off the floor. The first hours are the best. The light is soft, the animals are active, and the vehicles are few.
By late morning the floor is busy. Ngorongoro is popular, and in high season you share it with many other cars. A good guide knows which areas empty out and drives away from the crowds. Lunch is at a picnic site by the Ngoitokitok spring, where the hippos keep everyone company.
The park allows six hours on the crater floor per descent. Our itineraries use all six, from an early descent to a mid-afternoon climb out. The sections below explain how to make the most of them.
One full day on the crater floor is the right amount for almost everyone. The floor is small. In six hours you can cover most of it. A second descent shows you the same ground with the same animals and costs a second crater fee.
That is why every itinerary on this page spends one day at the crater and moves on. The rest of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a different story. It is more than 8,000 square kilometres of highlands, forest and plains around the crater, and most visitors never see any of it.
If you want a second day here, spend it outside the crater. Walk on the rim with a ranger, drive to the Empakaai crater, or visit a Maasai boma. Or use the day at Ndutu in the calving months, which is inside the conservation area on the Serengeti border.
Spend the night before the crater close to the descent road. A rim lodge puts you first on the floor. A lodge in Karatu costs less and adds about an hour in the morning.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is far bigger than the crater. It is a mixed-use area where Maasai herders live alongside the wildlife, which makes it unlike any national park.
The crater highlands are the green hills around the rim. Walks here go through forest and open grassland with views over the crater and across to the Serengeti. Empakaai is a second, smaller crater with a soda lake on its floor and flamingos in season. The walk down takes about an hour.
Olduvai Gorge sits on the road to the Serengeti. It is the site where the Leakeys found early human fossils, and there is a small museum. It is a short stop, well worth an hour.
Ndutu is the plains area on the southern border of the Serengeti. It is inside the conservation area, not the park, which means off-road driving is allowed. In December to March the wildebeest calve here. Ask us to add a Ndutu night to any of the packages above in those months.
The Maasai villages along the road offer cultural visits. Ask us to include one that pays the community directly.
Dry Shoulder Green Long rains
Dry, warm, clear. Calving at Ndutu next door. Busy over the holidays, quieter after.
The long rains. The floor is green and the views are moody. Fewer vehicles. Some days are wet.
Cool and dry. Cold mornings on the rim, often under 10 degrees. Peak season and the busiest floor.
Dry and dusty. Warm. Still busy but easing.
Short rains. Green again, fewer cars, and the animals spread out. Good value.
There are three choices, and each changes the day.
Lodges on the crater rim have the view and the earliest start. They are also the most expensive, and the rim is cold at night in the dry season. Pack a warm layer.
Camps in the highlands, a little back from the rim, are quieter. They give you the same early access and often a walk from the door.
Karatu is the town outside the gate. It has the widest choice of lodges at every price. The morning drive to the descent road adds about an hour, and you pay the entry fee on the day you go in.
The packages on this page use a mix. Most spend one night near the crater, either on the rim or in Karatu, and go down the next morning. When you enquire, tell us which matters more to you, the early start or the budget, and we will pick the lodge to match.
The crater sits on the road from Arusha to the Serengeti. That makes it the natural middle of any northern circuit safari. You cannot drive to the Serengeti without passing through the conservation area, so a crater day costs little extra time.
The usual order is Tarangire or Manyara first, then the crater, then the Serengeti. That builds from the smaller parks to the largest. The reverse works too, and a Serengeti flight at the start lets you drive back through the crater and end at Arusha.
A short safari of three or four days can do Manyara, the crater and Tarangire without reaching the Serengeti at all. The crater carries that trip. It gives you the big five in one day, and Tarangire adds the elephants.
Every itinerary on this page includes the crater. Some stop there. Most go on to the Serengeti. The listing above says which.
The crater day is long and it starts cold. A few things make it comfortable.
Warm layers for the morning. The descent begins around 2,300 metres on the rim, and in the dry months it is often under 10 degrees at dawn. A fleece, a windproof layer and a hat come off by mid-morning and go back on for the climb out.
A packed lunch and water. There are no shops on the floor. Your lodge or your guide arranges the lunch box. Eat it inside the vehicle at the picnic site, because the kites there take food straight from your hand.
Binoculars. The floor is open and animals are often far off. The rhinos in particular are usually seen at a distance.
A camera with a long lens if you have one, and a dust cover for it. The floor is dusty in the dry season.
And patience. The best crater sightings come to vehicles that stop and wait, not to those that chase every radio call.
Add a day, swap a park, upgrade the lodges, travel in a different month. Tell us what you want and we will rebuild the itinerary around it.
