Colette's Grand Detour

Day 11 (7th August 2025)

To get to the Serengeti Plains in Northern Tanzania you must travel up and over the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.  This includes everyone – not just tourists heading off for safari, but big buses full of locals heading to Northwest Tanzania beyond the Serengeti and truck drivers maneuvering goods through the country. 

It was very foggy as we initially headed up the escarpment that sits behind Lake Manyara so we were prepared that we may not get a good view of the crater today.  Luckily we would have a second chance when we headed back for our game drive in Ngorongoro Conservation area in 2 day’s time.  However, luck was on our side and we got an incredible view looking down into the caldera from a viewing platform on the western rim.  This is the largest fully intact caldera (i.e. all the edge walls are intact) in the world and inside the caldera exists a unique ecosystem.  The views were stunning and I can’t wait for our safari down in the crater. 

Ngorongoro Crater was once a massive volcano, potentially evener taller than Mount Kilimanjaro, and forms part of the East African Rift Valley volcanic system.  The caldera was formed about 2-3 million years ago, when after a violent eruption with the ejection of huge amounts of ash and lava, the mountain collapsed inwards creating the depression that now sits within the crater.  Since then, a unique environment has formed within the crater, through erosion and weathering, and lakes, rivers and wetlands have formed.

The volcano system in this area and its eruptions over millions of years will be closely linked to my next blog post which will talk about the evidence of early human history that has been found in the area.  Without the volcanic activity of the rift valley, early hominins would not have chosen to live in the area and take advantage of the fertile environment and evidence of their presence would not have been preserved so well. 

We drove along the rim of the crater for about 30 minutes before slowly making our way to the other side and down into the Ngorongoro Conservation area.  A spectacular drive to take on our way to the Serengeti.