by Leigh Kemp, 21 November 2007

The concept that is the Ngorongoro Crater is extraordinary, as if it has been moulded from the plans of an African theme park.

An ancient volcano that exploded then collapsed into itself forming a giant crater, Ngorongoro today plays host to a range of eco-systems, from grasslands to swamps and from forests to lakes and this in turn ensures that a wide variety of animal species inhabit the park.

The First Look

My first view of the crater was as surprising as it was sudden. After climbing through almost-tropical forest the vehicle suddenly stopped at a viewpoint and there it was before me ... not exactly stretched out, for it doesn't look too big from up high. My first idea was of the patterns formed on the crater floor by all its different ecosystems.

I sat in the vehicle for a long while as thoughts raced through my mind. I felt I knew this place so well and yet was seeing it for the first time. Many of my childhood dreams were built on ideas of the crater, but this was nothing like my dreams.

As I stood on the crater rim I could see Lake Magadi, sporting a blush of pink on one shore, and the fever tree forest hugging the slopes on one side of the crater. I knew all these places intimately but they looked a little different to how I knew them and I realised that I had come to know them in a postcard sense, from a marketing point of view.

But where were the animals that made the crater so famous? As I scanned the floor I could make out what I assumed was a herd of buffalo, and began to realise how misleading the size of the crater is when viewed from the rim.

Later as we descended into the crater I saw how much bigger the area was than what my first impressions were and appreciated why the legendary researcher, Bernhard Grzimek, was concerned when his son Michael did not get back in time to pick him up.

Michael had damaged his plane en route back to the crater. Stuck in the middle of the crater, with no rations, and night approaching would have been an intimidating prospect, more so in the early 1960s. He survived with the help of some Maasai.

The Masai and the Crater

The Maasai history of the crater started when the southward moving Maa people arrived in the area in the early parts of the 19th century. They came upon the Mbulu and Datoga people inhabiting the crater and after skirmishes the Maasai took over the area and lived there for over a hundred years before the first European saw it.

In the early 1900s German farmers moved in to the crater to farm but after the WW1 they departed to be replaced by other farmers and squatters.

In 1951 the crater was declared a part of the Serengeti National Park and all squatters were moved out, although the Maasai continued to graze their stock on the crater floor. After a great deal of conflict with the authorities the Maasai were evicted form the crater in 1959.

Through the concern of people such as professor Bernhard Grzimek, who was studying the area in the early 1960s, the Ngorongoro area was removed as part of the Serengeti National Park. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is now a multi-use area and the Maasai can once again be seen grazing their cattle on the crater floor.

Born in an explosion

The Crater is more than 600m deep, the floor is 260km² long and 14km across in places. There are said to be 25 000 animals living in the crater at times, many of which are permanent residents.

It was once thought that all animals stay permanently in the crater but research has shown that up to half of the zebras and wildebeest leave the area in the wet season.

Once thought to be higher than Mount Kilimanjaro before imploding, the crater is an iconic wilderness and safari destination. Linked to the Serengeti in proximity and status, the two areas as we know them today were formed when Ngorongoro exploded. With the explosion came an implosion and the crater was formed.

Time and wind ensured ground cover and vegetation taking hold and producing one of the most nutritious ecosystems on earth.

The plains of the southern Serengeti were layered with lava from the explosion of Ngorongoro, and windblown sands and grasses were deposited over time. Due to the laval layer the ground cover of the southern Serengeti is very shallow, trapping all nutrients and thereby ensuring that the grass is of high nutritional value. It's this that brings the herds of the great migration to give birth on the plains of the southern Serengeti today.

Not For Your To-Do List

The night before we were due to leave Ngorongoro I overheard other guests discussing their holiday. One said: 'Now I can tick the crater off my list'.

Is this all this natural phenomenon is to him, I wondered sadly? There was no talk of what he had experienced, just simply that he could tick it off his list.

The Crater is one of earth's wonders and I felt privileged to have experienced it for what it is.

Article © Copyright 2007 Go2Africa.

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