Ngorongoro HighlandsThe glorious Ngorongoro Conservation Area includes the Ngorongoro Crater at its centre and extends out to the stunning Crater Highlands; it is particularly important for its efforts to conserve traditional Masaai culture as much as wildlife. This extraordinary volcanic landscape is rich and fertile, with stunning craters and lakes; the high altitude creates a malaria-free micro climate, making it perfect for extensive exploring.
The Crater Highlands are an ideal location for enjoying longer walks or treks, free from the restrictions of the National Parks. Walks here show the impressive volcanic landscape and cultural significance of the local Maasai. There is potential for wildlife sightings, although they would not be frequent enough to consider the experience as an out and out ‘walking safari’. However, as a result of occasional leopard and lion sightings, we do recommend that all treks are accompanied by a guide.
It is possible to drive (about 1 and half hours) and walk up the much smaller Empakaai Crater, to the north. The base of Empakaai is a deep crater lake that is occasionally pink with flamingos and the grassy rim provides impressive views of Ol Doinyo Lengai – a still active and impressively ash-coned volcano that the Maasai call the ‘Mountain of the Gods’. On particularly good days you may also see the glittering flood waters of Lake Natron, or the peak of Kilimanjaro. Olduvai Gorge
Olduvai Gorge is also found within the conservation area; a steep sided ravine and one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world. It was here that excavation work pioneered by Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey in the 1950’s unearthed the earliest known examples of homo habilis ‘the handyman’ in 1960, and then 3.6 million year old fossil footprints of hominid man at Laetoli in 1978. There is a small, very simple museum here, started by Mary Leakey and since developed by the J. Paul Getty Museum. Many of the artefacts are original, but some are casts – such as the hominid skulls and the fossilised footprints from nearby Laetoli. Visitors can witness the dusty outcrop that is the gorge itself and the strange standing pinnacles, striped with rock strata, which are stunning testament to the passing of time.
Ngorongoro Highlands Accommodation options Beyond camping out at the top of Empakai, there are more comfortable accommodation choices just on the border of the Conservation Area, around the roadside village of Karatu, half-way between the Crater and Manyara. This is the land of rolling homesteads, plentiful plantations, tropical farmlands from which to explore the surrounding area. Plantation Lodge is surrounded by glorious gardens and offers a chance of a post-safari massage; Gibbs' Farm has an inspirational Artists-in-Residence program, and is situated in its own 10 acre fruit and vegetable garden. Organic coffee is grown, roasted and ground on the premises and a 'Living Spa' option to compliment the activity list. We often recommend that clients spend 2 nights at Karatu - the first day visiting Lake Manyara, the second visiting the Ngorongoro Crater, before returning to Lake Manyara airstrip and flying into the Serengeti on the third day
Recommended lodges in this area:
Ngorongoro Highlands
This ultra luxurious hotel stands on the boundary of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, in fact the drive way is in it! The Manor looms over some of Tanzania’s most scenic coffee plantations up in the spectacular Ngorongoro highlands.
Ngorongoro Highlands
This is an old 1930’s coffee plantation in the Ngorongoro Highlands. Gibbs Farm is a remarkable hideaway between the National Parks and conservation areas with a surprisingly English country garden.
Ngorongoro Highlands
Plantation Lodge is surrounded by the coffee plantations in the Ngorongoro Highlands giving its guests both the excitement of a safari In the Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara National Park and the luxury of an extremely comfortable lodge.
|
|
