Day Trip · 1 days · Private or group
Ngorongoro Crater Day Safari from Arusha
The crater floor in a single day from Arusha: an early start, a descent at first light on the rim, and a full game drive on the floor before the climb out.
- Duration
- 1 days, 0 nights
- Group
- Private or group
- Activity
- Game drive
- Starts
- Arusha
- Ends
- Arusha
- Best months
- All year. June to October is dry and easiest for viewing; the crater holds animals in every month.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed volcanic caldera about twenty kilometres across, with its own permanent population of wildlife on the floor. It is the one place in Northern Tanzania where a single day genuinely delivers a full safari, because the animals do not have to be found across a hundred kilometres of bush. They are down there.
This is a long day and we do not pretend otherwise. We leave Arusha in the dark and you are back after it. What you get for it is the crater floor in the good light of the morning, before the vehicles that came from the closer lodges arrive.
If you can spare two days instead, an overnight near the rim turns this into a much gentler trip. Look at our Tanzania safaris or tell us your dates.
Trip highlights
- A descent onto the crater floor in the morning, when the light is best and the floor is quietest
- The densest concentration of large mammals in Tanzania, in a bowl you can see across
- Black rhino among the possibilities, though never a promise: they are wild and they are few
- Lunch at a picnic site on the floor, with hippo in the water beside it
- A stop on the rim on the way in or out, looking two thousand feet down onto where you are going
Day by day
Day 1 Before dawn: Arusha to the Ngorongoro gate
We collect you between 05:00 and 05:30. It is about four hours to the conservation area gate, through Mto wa Mbu and up the escarpment. You will see the rim before you see the floor, and we stop there so you can look down onto it.
Meals: Picnic lunch
Day 2 Late morning to afternoon: the crater floor
The descent road drops you onto the floor for a full game drive: the short-grass plains, Lake Magadi with its flamingos, the Lerai forest, the hippo pool. Your guide works the floor rather than driving straight across it. Lunch is a picnic beside the water.
Meals: Picnic lunch
Day 3 Evening: the climb out and the drive back
We climb out in the middle of the afternoon, because the crater has a fixed exit time and the drive home is long. Back in Arusha in the late evening.
Meals: Picnic lunch
What is included
Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in Arusha
- Private 4x4 safari vehicle with a pop-up roof, fuel and a licensed driver-guide
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area entry fees
- Crater service fee
- Picnic lunch and drinking water
- Government taxes on the above
Not included
- Flights, visa and travel insurance
- Drinks other than the water provided
- Tips for your driver-guide
- Anything personal
Before you travel
Pickup and meeting point
We collect you from your hotel, guesthouse or Airbnb anywhere in Arusha town, and from Usa River and the Kilimanjaro Airport road on request. Give us the property name when you book and we confirm the pickup time the evening before. Drop-off is at the same address unless you tell us otherwise. This trip starts before dawn, so we confirm the exact time with you the day before and ask your hotel to arrange an early breakfast or a packed one.
What to bring
Warm layers for the rim, which is at over two thousand metres and cold in the early morning, and lighter clothes for the floor. Binoculars if you have them. Sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses. A camera with more battery than you think you need. Dust gets everywhere, so a bag for your lenses.
Safety
You travel in a maintained 4x4 with a licensed Tanzanian driver-guide. Seat belts are fitted in every seat. We carry a first aid kit and drinking water, and the guide stays contactable through the day. Travel insurance is not included and we recommend you arrange it before you come. You stay in the vehicle on the crater floor except at the designated picnic site and toilet stops, which is a conservation area rule and not ours.
Questions about this trip
Is one day really enough for Ngorongoro?
For the crater floor, yes. It is a contained space and the animals are resident. What one day does not give you is the rest of the conservation area, or a second attempt if the weather is against you.
Will we see rhino?
Sometimes. The crater holds a small black rhino population and they are often distant. We will not promise you an animal we do not control.
How long is the day?
Twelve to fourteen hours door to door, with roughly eight of those in the vehicle. If that sounds like too much, two days with a night near the rim is a much easier trip.
Does the price change with group size?
Yes. Park and crater fees are charged per person and per vehicle, so the figure per person falls as the vehicle fills. Send us your dates and numbers and we confirm the exact price in writing before you commit.
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Where this trip goes
Book this trip
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