Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania is located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area which spans across vast expanses of highland plains, savanna woodlands and forests. Established in 1959 as a multiple land use area, with wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing traditional livestock grazing, it includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest caldera. The property has global importance for biodiversity conservation due to the presence of globally threatened species, the density of wildlife inhabiting the area, and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and other animals into the northern plains. Extensive archaeological research has also yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years.

The extensive highland plains, savanna, savanna woods, and forests that stretch from the arm of the Great Rift Valley to the plains of the Serengeti National Park comprise the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The region was created in 1959 as a multiple-use area where Maasai pastoralists who practice traditional livestock grazing with animals cohabit. It has the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater, the biggest crater in the world, and the 14-kilometer-long, deep Olduvai Gorge. Given the presence of internationally threatened species like the black rhino, the abundance of wildlife that year-round inhabits the Ngorongoro Crater and its environs, and the yearly migration of ungulates into the northern plains, including zebras, wildebeest, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelles, and other ungulates, the property is of global significance for the conservation of biodiversity.