The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is an extensive highland area along the eastern arm of the Rift Valley, with the world-renowned Ngorongoro Crater as its focal point. It is not a national park in the strict sense of the word, but the NCA was established to conserve wildlife and other natural resources. It also safeguards the interests of indigenous people and promotes tourism. Thus, guests on safari have the unique experience of seeing Maasai herdsmen whose cattle graze side by side with the tremendous variety of wildlife found in the area.

Unmatched for its natural variety, there are few places on earth where such a tremendous diversity of landscapes exist inside a region this size. Apart from its wildlife riches, the NCA is also of great archaeological importance, with the remains of some of mankind’s earliest ancestors discovered in the area. 

The largest intact caldera in the world, the Ngorongoro Crater shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens anywhere. A permanent population of more than 30 000 animals inhabit a mere 260 km² (100 square miles) in the 600 m (2 000 ft) deep crater, making this one of the few places in Africa where guests stand a great chance of seeing the entire Big Five in the course of a single game drive.

Guests can be forgiven for losing track of which era, or even continent, they are experiencing at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge.

Nowhere else on earth can you wake up among all the trappings of an elegant baroque chateau - brocade sofas, gilt mirrors, beaded chandeliers and panelled walls - and be instantly transported into one of the most famous African landscapes with just one glance out the window of the lodge.

In this place of dramatic contrasts, where Versailles meets Maasai, anything is possible and the natural luxury of the breathtakingly beautiful setting ensures the dramatic interior of your suite blends perfectly with its stilted thatch architecture.

An estimated 25 000 mammals are resident in the Crater, including large herds of resident wildebeest, 16 highly endangered black rhino and around 70 lions. Nomadic cheetah move in and out of the area and leopard are most often encountered in the Lerai Forest. Both golden and black-backed jackal are abundant, while the normally shy and nocturnal serval are frequently spotted during daylight hours. Vast numbers of buffalo, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle also occur. Large numbers of both lion and spotted hyena are also resident in the Crater.

The Lerai Forest, the permanent marshes on the Crater floor and the highland meadows provide the best sightings of elephant in the Crater area. The dense forest on the slopes and rim of the Crater provides shelter for the giant tuskers, which pass silently through the forest depths, some even visiting the lodge gardens after dark. Elephant are not the only visitors to the lodge, with buffalo occasionally taking a nocturnal stroll through the grounds. A triumph of conservation efforts, buffalo were once completely absent from the Crater floor but have returned in large numbers.    

While more often associated with the Great Migration in other parts of Tanzania, both zebra and wildebeest are permanently resident in the Crater. Thomson’s gazelle, which often join the wildebeest and zebras on their migration, are also more sedentary in the area, grazing the grasslands in the company of the larger animals. The saline waters of Lake Magadi attract both the lesser and the greater flamingo, with flocks of several thousand forming when the lake is low. Other bird species on the Crater floor include the ostrich and the Kori bustard, the world’s heaviest flying bird.

From USD 685 per person per night sharing (fully inclusive)

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