Ngorongoro Crater: A unique ecosystem and the largest caldera in the world.
Ngorongoro Crater, the heart of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, is an oval crater which varies in diameter from 21 km in its east-west axis and 17.7 km in its north-south axis.
The height of the rim varies between 2,280m and 2,440m above sea level. The floor stands at about 1,722m at the level of Lake Magadi (or Makati) and gently rises to 1,830 in the north-east, thus giving an average wall depth of 610m from the rim, and a floor area of 260 km2 (3% of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area). The wall is rarely cliff-like and is frequently forested, especially in the south and east. The Crater may be considered to be an almost closed ecosystem with its own resident population of a wide variety of fauna.
It is estimated that about 25,000 large mammals, mainly gazelles, buffalo, eland, hartebeest and warthogs populate the area.
Of the avifauna, flamingos, both greater and lesser, and pelicans dominate the scene in the crater lakes, in particular in Ngorongoro Crater, where they can be seen flying in huge flocks from one part of the lake to another. The flamingos are not resident but fly in from their breeding grounds in the nearby Lake Natron, which lies to the north of the conservation area. Ngorongoro also lies in the fly way of wintering birds that migrate from Europe, causing the bird population of the Crater to increase significantly during the rainy season.
In addition to Ngorongoro Crater, there are three other craters to the north, the three of them lying in a northeast line towards the still active volcano of Oldoinyo Lengai (the mountain of God, 1,830m). These are the Olmoti (2,944m) and Empaakai (2,200m at the rift floor). Between these the floor of the Bulbul Depression stands at 2,320m, while Kerimasi mountain crater (2,300m). Mount Lolmalasin (3,290m) dominates the northern highlands forest.
(Information by UNESCO)
