Climbing up the Rift Valley you enter the Ngorongoro Conservation area including the Ngorongoro Crater. This is a world heritage site and is one of the jewels of Tanzania.
The park itself is home to Masai cattle herders whose villages can be seen along the route. The Crater is 20km across 600m deep and covers an area of 330sqkm.
Most animals spend the day inside the crater ascending at night to the protection of the forest and their tracks can be seen along the way.
The crater is a caldera and provides year round water for all animals except giraffe as the sides are too steep for them to descend.
Due to the protection provided Black Rhinos can be found in the crater. With an abundance of food and water the crater is teeming with all sorts of animals from the predators to the prey.