Ngorongoro Conservation Authority Area park is located between the Serengeti and Lake Manyara. Called the eighth wonder of the world and stretching across some 8,300 sq km, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania boasts a blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeology that is unsurpassed in Africa. The volcanoes, grasslands, waterfalls and mountain forests are home to an abundance of animals and to the Maasai. It is home to the famous volcanic Ngorongoro crater which is the largest unbroken caldera in the world. The crater (610 m deep and 260 km squared) is a microcosm of East African scenery and game and is usually visited on the way back from the Serengeti to Arusha.  It is one of the few places in Africa where one can guarantee sightings of the rare and endangered Black Rhino in its natural setting with the passage of time, the floor of the crater has become grassland, with a lake in the middle, and it has a high concentration of hippos, elephants, lions, jackals, wildebeest, hyenas, zebras, elands, cape buffalo and a wide assortment of colorful birds, including a large flock of flamingos. Because of the number of tourists passing through the area (at times there seems to be more Land Rovers than wildlife), the animals are not timid, and they seldom run away as your vehicle come nearer.

Ngorongoro Crater - Nearly three million years old, the once-volcanic Ngorongoro is now considered “Africa’s Garden of Eden” – a haven for thousands of wild game, including lions, elephants, wildebeests, zebras, rhinos, Thomson’s gazelles and buffaloes.

Not a national park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority Area is a diverse region with people and wildlife living together.  Cultures include Maasai,

Hadzabe, and Barbaig.  The Maasai people live within the conservation area around the crater. Known as nomadic herders and warriors, a visit to these traditional, temporary villages “enkangs” is a highlight for all visitors to the area. Get a glimpse of their fascinating culture: see them in their bright red robes, watch as they create ornate beadwork and how they live off the land by utilizing cattle. The nomadic Maasai have grazing rights of the Ngorongoro Crater and treat cattle as a sign of wealth.

Ngorongoro is the remnant of a volcano that blew apart, leaving a flat plain area ringed with steep walls. The Ngorongoro volcano, before it exploded and collapsed 2 millions years ago, was one of the world's tallest mountains. To appreciate its former size, consider that the crater (technically a caldera) measures about 20 km (12 miles) across. The encircling rim is 600 meters (2,000 feet) above the crater floor.

Geologically speaking, the landscapes of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are a combination of both ancient and modern geological processes. The Ol Doinyo Gol mountains and the gneiss and granite outcrops scattered across the Serengeti Plain originated several hundred million years ago. Some 20 million years ago, the eastern side of Africa started to crack and rift, causing the land between the rifts to subside. This resulted in the earth's crust gradually thinning and softening, allowing molten materials to thrust to the surface and form lava beds and, later, volcanoes. Within the Ngorongoro area, the oldest volcanoes -- Lemagrut, Sadiman, Oldeani, Ngorongoro, Olmoti, Sirua, Lolmalasin and Empakaai -- were formed along the Eyasi Rift, which now forms the towering cliffs at Lake Eyasi. In the north, the rift separates the Doinyo Gol mountains from the Salei Plains, but much of the early rift is now obscured by lava.

It is believed that Ngorongoro once rivaled Kilimanjaro in size. The lava that filled the volcano formed a solid "lid," which subsequently collapsed when the molten rock subsided, forming the caldera that we see today. Both Olmoti and Empakaai collapsed in a similar manner, but are not as immense as Ngorongoro. Two volcanoes of more recent origin, Kerimasi and Ol Doinyo Lengai, were formed along the Gregory Rift and lie to the northeast of the Empakaai caldera. Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Maasai's "mountain of God," is still active -- its most recent eruption took place in 1983.

The vast quantities of ash produced by the volcanoes have had two principal benefits: fertile soils for crop production outside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and the maintenance of the rich savanna grasslands that support the largest ungulate herds in the world. A third and invaluable benefit has been the preservation of an important fossil treasure-trove that has enabled archaeologists and paleontologists alike to develop a better understanding of the origins of modern man and the creatures that inhabited this part of the world, particularly at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli.