Experience of travel enhances when it is mixed with adventure and mystery, and the mystical land of Ngorongoro conservation area provides both, giving us an experience of time back in history when life revolved around wildlife and grazing livestock.
INTO THE WORLD OF OUR EARLIEST ANCESTORS
Ngorongoro conservation area is located in the Arusha region of Northern Tanzania and is known for its uniqueness, owing to its stunning landscape combined with a mix of diverse wildlife and archaeological revelations.This place was established as a multiple land-use area in the year 1959, and since then has been the epicentre of extensive archaeological research and travel, owingto the fossils discovered of the earliest human civilization and the unique natural phenomena found exclusively in the place.
NGORONGORO CRATER AND OTHER SURROUNDING MYSTERIES
Talking about unique natural phenomena’s, the Ngorongoro conservation area is home to the Ngorongoro crater, a caldera which was formed when a huge volcano of an estimated height of 5,000 metres erupted and collapsed into itself some 3 million years ago. The crater has a depth of 610 m and covers a base area of 260 sq. Km, making it the world’s largest crater and one of the greatest natural wonder on this planet. Millions of years ago, it was covered by a large lake, shores of which were covered with successive deposits of volcanic ash. When the seismic forces in a nearby stream began to act down into the sediments some 500,000 years back, 7 main layers in the walls of the gorge were revealed, displaying the crater as we witness today.
The mystery surrounding this place intensifies as we learn about the early hominid footprints discovered in the major archaeological sites of Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, which date back to 3.6 million years ago, the time when humans were reported to first appear on this planet. The area provides a long sequence of evidence in human evolution and our early environment dynamics.
Talking about the environment dynamics, the Ngorongoro conservation area is home to the semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists, who migrated south from Kenya in the 1800s and can be seen practising traditional livestock grazing. They are accompanied by some globally endangered species of the world, including blue wildebeests and African Buffalo.
WILDLIFE IN NGORONGORO
Ngorongoro conservation area is a mixture of forests, canyons, grasslands, plains, lakes and marshes, which makes it a perfect place for different varieties of plants and animal species to coexist. Around 371 species of birds and 6 different species of zebras, along with some of the largest animals to exist on the planet currently, can be found randomly grazing and walking around the lush green areas of the forest.
Not to mention the diverse range of predators that flock the region in search for water sources, which more often than not is the large Lake Natron situated smack in the middle of the crater.
The rich deposits of the volcanic ash left on the soil immediately in the aftermath of the eruption is primarily responsible for turning your Ngorongoro Safari into a near-paradise travel experience.
Words only scratch the surface; true experience lies in witnessing all of this in person.
Such diverse environments scattered uniformly along this vast area of Ngorongoro attracts tourists from across the globe who want to experience the place where human species first appeared on this planet. The place offers something unique to every traveller and travel to this side of the world has been simplified by travel providers who provide convenient and interesting packages, allowing us to explore the wildlife like never before.
The tourist’s attractions around the Ngorongoro conservation area are plenty, but the scenic beauty and the experience into the life of our earliest ancestors it provides are somewhat timeless and infinite.
