The Travelling Teacher: Tanzania - Creatures in the Crater

October 15

Hello everyone!

To drive to the Serengeti from the large town of Arusha, you have to pass one of the stranger natural wonders of Tanzania: an enormous 'crater' which is home to more wildlife than many African countries combined.

Wildebeest in the Ngorongoro Crater

Between 20,000 and 25,000 large animals call the Ngorongoro home

Technically, the Ngorongoro Crater isn’t actually a crater. It is a caldera, formed when a supervolcano rumoured to be almost as tall as nearby Kilimanjaro imploded and created a basin over 600 metres deep.

A caldera is formed when a large eruption leaves a gigantic empty chamber

The Ngorongoro is the world's largest fully intact
caldera that hasn't yet turned into a lake

The other fascinating aspect of this rather large dip is that, over time, it has become home to a wide variety of flora and fauna.

The Ngorongoro Crater is also referred to as 'the Garden of Eden'

It was made a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1979

You won’t find giraffes - anyone who has been to Ngorongoro will attest to how steep the entrance is. They are instead found on the rim of the crater, where visitors camp. It gets pretty cold up there at night!

The rim of the crater is also part of national conservation area

Part of the campgrounds above the big hole

What you will find in the ‘crater’, after a severe test of a car’s brakes on the way down to the bottom, are lions…

There are 55-65 permanent lion residents on the crater floor

The Ngorongoro has one of the highest densities of lions on Earth

...elephants…

There are between 200 and 300 elephants in the Ngorongoro

This was actually the only elephant we saw

...and a massive dazzle of zebra.

Every zebra has a unique pattern

This is what I imagine the Great Migration in the nearby Serengeti would look like, with an incredible volume of wildebeest and zebra pausing for breath before moving.

A raft of hippo congregate in a small pool of water

Due to the Ngorongoro being quite small, the area apparently
has more predator-prey interactions per capita
than almost anywhere on the planet

I think there was also a new animal to see: a caracal. It is a medium-sized cat with large teeth, and it enjoyed toying with a herd of Grant’s gazelle.

A caracal is notable for its long ears

The caracal spent time mock-charging the Grant's gazelle

Lots of birds live in this cradle of life, including a kori bustard. Apparently this rather plump bird is the largest flying bird native to Africa. It’s certainly not the biggest bird in the park, though…

A kori bustard can weigh up to 19 kg

A male ostrich - comfortably more than 19 kg

Or the most synchronised...

A great white pelican

The caldera is said to be one of the best places to see a black rhino, one of the ‘Big Five’. We’ve had plenty of luck seeing wildlife on this trip and it was here that our luck ran out. When we stopped at a viewing point on the way back to Arusha, our guide claimed to be able to see one in an area of the park which is off-limits to cars. I saw a black speck which could have been an elephant, wildebeest...anything. I ignored the cynical part of my brain which told me he wanted to prove we had seen a rhino.

Approximately 30 rhino live in the Ngorongoro Crater

Can you see it?

The Ngorongoro Crater wasn’t something I was really aware of before researching a trip to the Serengeti. It is a bizarre place, encompassing views which you might find on British moors and the Moon at the same time.

A lone hyena walks along the road

A dazzle of zebra under the morning mist

If you visit the Serengeti, it is definitely worth your time. Not just because I don’t think anyone should ever get tired of seeing lions, elephants and zebra: it is a fascinating place in a fascinating environment.