Ngorongoro safari tours
Ngorongoro is a large volcanic crater located in northern Tanzania. Its diameter is about 20 km and its depth is 600 meters. The large crater has become a wild kingdom. Ngorongoro Tours are available from Nairobi as well as Arusha, and most of them also visit Serengeti National Park.
Tours to Ngorongoro
There are many tours to Ngorongoro, including tours to Tanzania's national parks, such as the Serengeti, or tours combined with Kenya's national parks.
Ngoronogoro from Arusha
If you come to Arusha, there are several 3 to 5 days tours including the visit to Serengeti National Park available.
Ngorongoro Day Tours from Arusha
There are day tours available to Ngorongoro from Arusha. If you do not have several days, such as "Ngorongoro Adventure Day Tour from Arusha", then it can be an option. However, I strongly recommend overnight tours in combination with Serengeti National Park.
Ngoronogoro from Nairobi
Serengeti and Ngorongoro Tours are also available from Nairobi. There safari tours are usually combined with some of Kenyan national parks. So the duration is longer and price is higher. But if you are prepared to spend a week or two in wilderness, then these tours are highly recommended. You can visit major national parks both in Kenya and Tanzania.
Ngoronogoro tours from Moshi
If you are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and staying in Moshi, then some safari tours available from Moshi. However, if you like to choose from many options, you should move to Arusha.
The model below is on display at the park's administration office. The model is a general view of the volcano, including the area around Ngorongoro, and shows that it is a volcanic area with a number of craters.
The actual view of the Ngorongoro Crater is shown below. As you can see, the Ngorongoro Crater was photographed in several sections, which were later combined. I tried to shoot from above the rim of the outer rim of the Ngorongoro Crater with a 17 mm telephoto lens, but I could not fit the entire Ngorongoro Crater into a single photo.
There is a famous lodge here called Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. The Ngorongoro Crater Lodge's facilities are a bit old, but the great thing is that it is built on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and you can clearly see the Ngorongoro Crater from the windows. If you look carefully with binoculars, you can see elephants and rhinos moving at the bottom of Ngorongoro Crater.
The photo below shows two crested cranes flying over the bottom of Ngorongoro Crater. In the background is the outer rim of Ngorongoro Crater, and whichever way you look inside Ngorongoro Crater, you will see the green outer rim in the background.
There are clouds over the outer rim of the mountain. The area covered by the clouds is forested, which is a completely different aspect from the dry bottom of Ngorongoro Crater.
This is Lake Magadi, the lake at the bottom of the Ngorongoro Crater. Magadi means "salt lake" in Maasai language, and there are lakes of the same name all over the country, including Kenya. Many flamingos come to this lake as well.
Ngorongoro transforms into a flower garden like the one in the photo below during a very limited period during the rainy season. The fox in the photo is playing among the yellow flowers. In some places, the purple flowers are in full bloom, making it look very beautiful, even more so than usual.
How to get to Ngorongoro
To get to Ngorongoro on your own, you will fly into the town of Arusha, the base of your safari, via Kenya's Nairobi Airport or Tanzania's Kilimanjaro Airport. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which transfers to Amsterdam, is the only airline that flies to Kilimanjaro Airport from Japan. For budget tours, it is likely that you will connect to Ethiopian Airlines at some point in Asia and fly into Kilimanjaro Airport.
All airlines fly into Nairobi Airport, but it is quite a distance to Arusha. You can take a local bus, but there are also direct buses available, so we recommend using those.
Taking a local bus from Kilimanjaro Airport to Arusha is not much of a distance.