The Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact and unfilled volcanic caldera and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area's main tourists’ attraction. It is the largest and most scenic crater in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with a large concentration of wildlife. It is also one of Africa's Seven Natural Wonders due to its breathtaking natural features. The Ngorongoro Crater is known as a home to over 25,000 animals, including the big five; elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, lions and leopards.
Other animals found in this crater include hippos, hyenas, warthogs, zebras, elands, gazelles, wildebeests, just to name a few. This makes Ngorongoro Crater probably the best site in Tanzania to spot and watch the big five as well as other wild species more easily.
The crater rim and its floor provide the best viewing and photographing opportunities. History records that the crater was the ideal spot on the planet where humans and nature interacted more closely than anywhere else; and today, one can actually glance at the settlements and cemeteries of the area’s earliest occupants.
Geological records show that the cone of the volcanic caldera collapse inwards, forming what is currently known as a crater. The site is named after a Maasai phrase, ‘orgirra le kkorongorro,’ which means “Big Bowl.” Earlier documentation of the area misspelled the word ‘kkorongorro’ into today’s Ngorongoro with its intricate depth ‘caldera/crater,’ resulting in Ngorongoro Crater.
