Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is perched on the edge of the ancient crater rim and is a return to the noble elegance of the travelling colonials. Inspired in design by the Masai manyatta, the three separate camps of six to twelve suites are adorned with hand-crafted structures with graceful antiques, grand chandeliers and magnificent four-poster beds hand-carved in Zanzibar.
Each sumptuous suite is discreetly tended by a personal butler.
Activities include game viewing drives into the crater and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, picnics and excursions to Olduvai Gorge and Shifting Sands, walking on the crater rim and visits to local Maasai manyattas. Characteristic species to be sighted include elephant, black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, buffalo and hippo. Guest areas include viewing decks and a superb crafts gallery.
Ngorongoro Crater General Information
Ngorongoro is on Tanzania's 'northern safari circuit', and receives a good number of visitors who stay in lodges around the crater. Game viewing vehicles descend the steep crater wall every morning and spend the day on grass plains that are teeming with animals. However, the dark of night belongs to the animals, and all vehicles must leave the crater floor well before sunset.
Early man also flourished around here at Olduvai Gorge, not far from the Ngorongoro Crater. This is known because in 1960, Mary Leakey discovered a 1.75 million-year-old Homo habilis (nicknamed 'The Handyman' for his tool making skills), who represents man’s first step on the ladder of human evolution.
The Maasai are the current human inhabitants and are at liberty to live within the sprawling 2,500 square mile (6,480km²) conservation area around the crater. The Maasai never cultivate land as they consider it demeaning. Instead they graze cattle, which hold a god-like status in Maasai culture, and in return the cows provide almost everything necessary to live; meat, skin, milk, dung for the walls and floor of their huts
