Wildlife at Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area’s wildlife and land have been a UNESCO site since 1979 and now its cultural heritage is to be included. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is the only site in the world with a high concentration of wildlife living in harmony with human communities. You will be stunned at the wildlife at Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The multiple land-use systems in this area are among the earliest to be established around the world as a means of reconciling human development and conserving natural resources. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area also contains numerous paleontological, archaeological, and anthropological sites of exceptional quality.
The jewel in Ngorongoro’s crown is a deep, volcanic crater, the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world. About 20kms across, 600 meters deep and 300 sq km in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder.
The area contains over 25,000 large animals including 26 black rhinoceros. There are 7,000 wildebeests, 4,000 zebras, 3,000 elands and 3,000 Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles. The crater also has the densest known population of lions, numbering 62. Higher up, in the rainforests of the crater rim, are leopards, about 30 large elephants, mountain reedbuck, and more than 4,000 buffalos, spotted hyenas, jackals, rare wild dogs, cheetahs, and other felines.
The legendary annual wildebeest and zebra migration also passes through Ngorongoro, when the 1.7 million ungulates move south into the area in December then move out heading north in June. The migrants passing through the plains of the reserve include 1.7 million wildebeest, 260,000 zebra, and 470,000 gazelles. The Lake Ndutu area to the west has significant cheetah and lion populations. Over 500 species of bird have been recorded within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. These include ostrich, white pelican, and greater and lesser flamingo on Lake Magadi within the crater, Lake Ndutu, and in the Empakaai Crater Lake, where a vast bird population can be observed.
On your Tanzania safari with Enclose Africa Safaris, you stand a greater chance to see some of this wildlife at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, including the numerous bird species within the park area.