Best time to visit Ngorongoro Crater
Best time to visit Ngorongoro Crater : Ngorongoro Crater is a top safari tour in Tanzania destinations. This is the world’s largest caldera and volcanic crater. Despite its small size (260 square kilometres), it is home to a wide variety of eco-systems, including marshes, grasslands, acacia forests, and montane forests. This habitat’s richness makes it one of the best places on Earth to observe wildlife. This is because animals always find food and water in this region throughout the year eliminating the need for them to migrate during the dry season. Because of the volcanic ash, this area has more rainfall than usual and extremely productive soil.
You can take an incredible Tanzania safari at any time of year when you visit the Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is always packed with species, both big and little, as many of the animals live there permanently! That being stated, the optimal season for a Ngorongoro safari varies based on your top viewing objectives. May or June through October are the ideal months to see the most animals because of the shorter grass. The crater’s overall attraction decreases during the dry season. Elephants usually leave the crater during the dry season. Thanks to the year-round, generally mild weather, which averages 18.6°C in the summer and 14.5°C in the winter, you won’t melt or freeze.
The Great Migration
The Maasai Mara National Reserve and Serengeti National Park are the two places that come to mind when you talk about the Great Migration. However, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is also where the Great Migration herds relocate to each year. It is important to note that sightings of the migrating animals are more likely to occur in the western Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) around Lake Ndutu on the Salei Plains than in the crater itself. After visiting the Ngorongoro Crater, we advise travelling to the Serengeti National Park witness the enormous herds of the Great Migration.
Ngorongoro Crater Rainy season
The Ngorongoro Crater’s rainy season runs from November to May. March and April are the wettest months there. This is the period of time when the grass grows longer, making it more difficult to notice smaller animals like jackals, mongooses, and civets. However, the wildflower bloom that covers the grasslands is simply breathtaking and interesting to watch on its own. You should visit Ngorongoro Crater around February or March if you want to have the highest chance of witnessing baby animals. Hoofed animals like antelopes, wildebeests, and zebras give birth during this time. A lot of predatory activity is also occurring at this time, as the carnivores try to get an easy meal.
Birding safari
All year long, the Ngorongoro Crater is a fantastic birding safari destination in Tanzania and a great place to go for birdwatching especially from November to April in particular, when migratory species from Europe and North Africa arrive. It’s also breeding season, so many of the local birds are at the peak of their plumage. A few of the incredible (and numerous) birds that can be found in the crater are Rüppel’s vultures, augur buzzards, lesser flamingos, white-eyed slaty flycatchers, white-browed coucals, Hildebrandt’s spurfowls, fan-tailed widowbirds, and Verreaux’s eagles these are the black eagles.
The best time to visit the Ngorongoro Crater is influenced by seasonal climate changes, migration patterns, and breeding trends. Depending on your unique hobbies, there is every season offers benefits, but with some differences in lodging costs. The crater rim is cooler in November and December, when brief showers bring hot, muggy air that calls for insect repellent. In this case, wearing warm clothing in the mornings and nights may still be important.
January or February
The Ngorongoro plains outside the crater area witness a major calving of wildebeest in January or February, with hundreds of new born providing incredible photo possibilities. Within minutes, the uneven new born manage to stand up, protected by their parents but not immune to the prowling predators that surround them. These predators include hunching lion cubs rehearsing their hunts, sprinting cheetahs, leopards, jackals, and hunchback hyenas.
March to May
The lowlands are kept verdant and lush by the lengthy rains that fall from mid-March to May. Travellers seeking to take advantage of discounted rates prior to the peak season beginning in June are drawn to northern Tanzania during the green, or low, season for wilderness vacations. That being said, it’s the best time to see spotted birds in the crater’s several ecosystems when you go bird watching with Focus East Africa Tours. Included in the sample of avi-migrants are the rosy-breasted longclaw, caspian lapwing, and montague’s harriers.
Splay-footed ostriches, peculiar secretary birds, and kori bustards are among the ground nesting birds, along with graceful grey-crowned cranes. Massive white-backed vultures, small rufous-tailed weavers, and blue-mantled superb starlings are among the tree nesters. Above the caldera rim soar augur buzzards and long-crested eagles, while hundreds of lesser flamingos and other waders create a pink mist on central Lake Magadi. October through June is when the dry season occurs.
Due to the fact that wildlife prefers dry environments and stays near water, it is really popular safari tour. Numerous species can be easily sighted at one time, with the Big Five perhaps seen in one day. The crater floor has mild to deep warmth, with daytime highs of 66-82 F (19-23 C), whereas the crater rim and highlands have rather cold temperatures, with nightly lows of 46-52 F (8-11 C). Avoid making any mistakes. Right now, before it vanishes forever like the three-toed pig, is the ideal moment to embark on a Ngorongoro heritage excursion.
In Summary
The best time to visit Ngorongoro is during the dry season, also known as peak season, when visitors can clearly see animals and other attractions. The grasses have dried enough to make it easy to see animals, and the disappearance of the rainy seasonal swamps adds to the attraction’s appeal. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is the ideal destination all year round due to its abundance of year-round attractions, including a museum and other places whose operations are not influenced by the seasonal variations in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Thus, regardless of the season, travellers are welcomed to this conservation area throughout the year; however, high season sees a higher volume of visitors than low and mid-season.
