The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and IUCN Category VI protected area covering 8,292 km² of the Crater Highlands in northern Tanzania. Unlike a national park, the NCA is a multi-use conservation area where Maasai pastoralists continue to graze their cattle alongside the wildlife.
The NCA encompasses the Ngorongoro Crater itself — a 264 km² collapsed volcanic caldera — along with the Olmoti Crater, Empakaai Crater, the Ndutu Plains, Olduvai Gorge (the ‘Cradle of Mankind’), and the vast Crater Highlands escarpment. Beyond the crater, the NCA offers some of the most spectacular highland scenery in East Africa: Empakaai Crater’s flamingo-dotted lake, the remote Olmoti Crater, and panoramic views from the Ngorongoro highlands towards the Serengeti plains and Lake Natron. Maasai cultural experiences are widely available throughout the NCA.