Ngorongoro Highlands

The Ngorongoro Highlands — Ngorongoro’s hidden landscape

Above the crater rim, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area extends into a high-altitude landscape of rolling highland forest, Maasai boma settlements, and secondary craters — Empakaai and Olmoti — that most visitors never see. Olmoti can be reached on foot from the rim, through forest and heathland, to a crater that holds a waterfall and a resident herd of buffalo. Empakaai is deeper, mist-filled, and dramatic — a flamingo-studded lake far below its own rim, accessible by a steep trail that keeps most tourists away. We go.