The Ngorongoro Crater offers Africa’s easiest Big Five viewing, with dense wildlife including lions, elephants, buffalo, leopards, rhinos, cheetahs, hyenas, and hippos. Maasai herdsmen tend cattle here, blending human and nature. Accommodations range from crater-edge lodges with panoramic views to Karatu town retreats. Activities include birdwatching, cultural tours, safaris, and wellness. Safari Online can tailor your Ngorongoro, Serengeti, or Masai Mara itinerary.
The Ngorongoro Crater delivers Africa’s easiest Big Five game viewing. An ancient volcanic crater lying close to the Serengeti, it is home to some of the densest concentrations of big animals in Africa. As well as the Big Five – lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard & rhino – the Ngorongoro Crater is also home to cheetah, hyena and hippo. There are herds of cattle too, tended by watchful red-robed Maasai herdsmen, for the Ngorongoro Crater is where man and nature come together in a single view.
And it’s a place made for views. Several Ngorongoro accommodations are set right on the rim of the crater itself, offering the most astonishing panoramas. Others are set away from the crater on sweeping savannah grasslands or on elegant coffee estates.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a popular destination, especially as it can so easily be combined with the Serengeti, Lake Manyara and even Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve. Honeymooners will love the idyllic views from their crater-side suite; families will find lodges that welcome children and offer family safari programmes and child minders.
And although it’s game viewing on the crater floor that is Ngorongoro’s main draw card, visitors will find plenty of other activities on offer: bird watching, cultural tours, mountain-biking and walking safaris. Lodges often serve meals in outdoor settings under a starry sky and several accommodations have a resident wellness therapist/masseuse.
You need to make a decision about where to stay. Ngorongoro accommodation is neatly divided into two groups: the camps and lodges located on – or very near – the Crater Rim, and the accommodation found in the town of Karatu, lying some 50 kilometres (30 miles) away. The question is: do you stay on the Crater Rim or Karatu?
Talk to Safari Online about an Ngorongoro Crater safari. We’ll recommend the best tour or accommodation for your requirements. We can also tailor-make an itinerary for you including the Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara – ask us how.
The Ngorongoro’s animals are contained within the crater and are resident all year-round. The best time to go to the Ngorongoro Crater is usually more a question of how many other visitors you want to see as well. And if you are also planning to view the wildebeest migration, it is doubly important to time your Ngorongoro safari accordingly as the migration takes place across two destinations – Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara.
Peak game viewing months in the Ngorongoro Crater are from June through September. Temperatures are mild and there is virtually no rain so much of the wildlife is concentrated near permanent water. This is when visitor numbers are at their highest; choosing an accommodation on the crater’s edge will get you onto the crater floor before most other vehicles.
The December to February antelope calving season is also a good time to travel to the Ngorongoro Crater. Predators take advantage of the seasonal bounty and your chances of seeing a kill are high.
If you want to have the crater and its wildlife mostly to yourself, then consider visiting during the March to May rainy season. There are far fewer visitors and the crater is wonderfully green and well-watered compared to the dusty dry-season landscape.
With vast, primal views of the crater below them, Ngorongoro lodges rank among the most unforgettable in Africa. A select few are set right on the rim itself, offering panoramic views at every turn plus first-onto-the-crater-floor game drives. Maasai dance displays and cultural tours are also part of the activity list.
Not all Ngorongoro lodges are on the crater rim however. Several are located an hour’s drive away in the town of Karatu, set in a hilly coffee-growing district. Here you’ll find shady plantation homes and boutique lodges offering activities like mountain biking and cultural tours as well as day safaris to the Ngorongoro Crater. The question is: do you stay on the Ngorongoro Crater Rim or Karatu?
Browse our selection of Ngorongoro lodges below – some of our choices are more suitable for honeymooners and discerning travellers; others for families or groups who want a more private accommodation experience. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, simply contact us and we’ll help you select a suitable accommodation for your needs.
This historic organic farm and family coffee plantation covers over 80 acres on the forested outer slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater. Share in the eternal sense of history and community with two-family houses and seventeen cottages.
Kitela Lodge rises up on the hillside of a valley with beautiful views of a coffee plantation and a waterfall within the incredible highlands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It consists of 20 colonial style cottages surrounded by beautiful gardens, a coffee plantation and a working farm.
Like a green oasis, The Plantation Lodge rests on the red-brown hills. The individually furnished rooms and suites melting harmoniously into the flowering garden offer comfort and relaxation. Everywhere you look, you can see and even feel the personal atmosphere of this owner-run lodge with furnishings that were selected with great attention to detail.
Set on a coffee estate & surrounded by gorgeous gardens, this high-end lodge offers cottage accommodation plus a 3-suite family unit with lounge & TV room. Active travellers will love the long list of activities but there’s also a pool, sauna & movie room.
Lying on the slopes of an extinct volcano, The Highlands sets the bar high when it comes to accommodation away from the Ngorongoro Crater rim. A small, intimate camp, it offers game drives as well as hiking & cultural tours.
You’ll be among the first onto the crater floor when you stay at this well sited lodge. You’ll enjoy simple comfort at camp & in addition to excellent game drives you have the chance to visit a Maasai village for a cultural encounter.
Set in a shady forest just 5 minutes from the entrance gate to the crater puts you among the first visitors on the crater floor in the morning. There are 8 rustic tented suites with their own bathrooms plus a 5-sleeper family unit.
An Ngorongoro safari is best experienced as part of a larger itinerary in Tanzania and even beyond. You are assured of great game viewing in the crater itself but with the Serengeti just a short distance away, not to mention Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara, a combination safari delivers the best experience.
Together these destinations form Tanzania’s Northern Circuit, a tried-and-tested route that delivers plenty of diversity and drama. But there are other destinations in Tanzania no less amazing than the Ngorongoro Crater but with a fraction of the visitors. You can go chimp tracking in the Mahale Mountains, explore the untamed Selous Reserve or search for East Africa’s biggest elephant herds in Ruaha National Park.
Browse our recommended tours below, each containing an Ngorongoro safari. We also feature tours that include Kenya’s Masai Mara, guaranteeing you the best of East Africa in a single itinerary. Contact us for more advice and information about booking or for a tailor-made itinerary based on your needs and budget.
Our team of destination experts will design a holiday to meet your budget and interests. Let’s start planning your tailor-made African safari today!
The Ngorongoro Crater is usually experienced as part of a bigger safari itinerary that includes Tanzania’s other safari destinations. The most popular of these combinations is the Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Tarangire and Lake Manyara – the Northern Safari Circuit. But Tanzania holds other surprises too: chimpanzee-filled rainforests and tropical beaches as well as more remote big game destinations such as Ruaha and Katavi National Parks. Here are our favourite combinations with the Ngorongoro Crater.
