Ngorongoro Crater VS Serengeti National Park
Ngorongoro Crater VS Serengeti National Park
Ngorongoro Crater VS Serengeti National Park is a simple comparison of the two national parks in Tanzania about their wildlife, size, ethnicity and all aspects of a wildlife reserve / Conservation area.
Ngorongoro Crater VS Serengeti National Park is comparing the two best national parks not only in Tanzania but worldwide and the two natural wonders of Africa. Ngorongoro crater VS Serengeti national park is a tough tackle in tourism because both parks give a wide range of wildlife experience. Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti national park are arguably the best national parks in Tanzania that offer guests the finest wildlife viewing experience. Both Ngorongoro and Serengeti national park have the African big 5 those are Buffalo, Elephants, Lions, Leopards and Rhinos that are easily and commonly seen during your game drives at the park.
Ngorongoro crater is the largest broken caldera in the world that was formed after a giant volcanic mountain collapsed inside. The broken mountain was at the same height as Mt Kilimanjaro. Ngorongoro crater is 610 meters deep with a total area of 260 square kilometers.
In this Ngorongoro Crater VS Serengeti National Park article, we highlight the great differences and similarities between Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti national park.
The Serengeti ecosystem covers both Ngorongoro crater and Serengeti national park with an area of 30,000 square kilometers. Serengeti national park is also known as the open endless plains of the Masai land is famous with its vast open savannah grassland with dotted Acacia trees.
Flora
Serengeti national park has a range of habitats that attract a different kind of animals who occupy the habitats. It’s out of this that Serengeti acts as the best and most unique park not only in Tanzania but Africa as a tourism continent. The vast grasslands of Serengeti Plains keep changing from the Western part to the far north as vegetation keep changing with flat open short grassland to the dotted acacia-dotted areas till you reach North to the border of Masai Mara and Lake Victoria where you get forested vegetation where most of the remaining black Rhinos and found. There are over 5 tree species of Acacia found in the North of Serengeti national park distributed according to the soil profiles and weather conditions.
While Ngorongoro crater floor is mainly occupied by shortgrass plains with some swampy vegetation cover, Lerai Forest. The short grass is the ideal point that attracts more grazers like wildebeest, Zebras and many more. The walls of the crater rim are covered by the montane forests with the most common ones are the Peacock flowers and highland trees.
Fauna/wildlife
Ngorongoro crater is well-known for its high concentration of wildlife worldwide with its per capita being the highest compared to Serengeti national park. The crater is a home of over 25,000 large animals with 26 black Rhinos, over 7,000 wildebeest, 4,000 zebras, 3,000 elands over 4,00 buffalos, Hyenas, cheetahs, jackals, wild dogs and many more.
On the other hand, the African most famous national park is a home of over 1 million wildebeest, 8000 hyenas, more than 1000 leopards, and 3,000 lions. Other animals include hippos, crocodiles, gazelles, zebras, giraffes, topis mention but a few. The total land area favors the good number of wildlife at the park with little or no tight competition for boundaries
On the other side of the coin, Ngorongoro Crater VS Serengeti National Park has much in common. The two national parks are the most visited parks in Tanzania with Serengeti taking a lead with over 350,000 visitors annually followed by Ngorongoro crater. One can wonder when seeing the number almost the same with no accurate digits simply because almost 99% of the visitors who go to Serengeti also have a safari in Ngorongoro crater besides that the transit route to Serengeti national parks makes guests pay entry fees to Ngorongoro on their way to Serengeti and the remaining 1% are those clients who fly directly to Serengeti.
No one can make the Ngorongoro crater VS Serengeti national park comparison without mentioning the wildebeest migration. The annual largest animal’s migration on planet earth happens between the two parks circulating around following the climatic conditions of the year. The wildebeest migration starts from Ngorongoro crater conservation Area in Ndutu and ends in Northern Serengeti national park in Mara River before they cross the river to Kenya.
One can see all the African big 5 easily in both parks (Lions, Leopards, Rhinos, Buffalos, and Elephants) A dream of African big 5 always come true after one visiting any of the two parks or both depending the time one has. Most guests who talk about Serengeti national park speak about wildebeest migration. Depending on the season the wildebeest migration can be followed from the Southern Serengeti in Ngorongoro area of Ndutu or central Serengeti in Grumeti river or further North in Mara River.
Relevant links
Unesco
