Women-led holistic habitat protection and elephant coexistence in Tanzania
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Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Conservation Natural Forest 860.830,13 ha
Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Our projects border the historic Ngorongoro Conservation Area and volcanic Crater spanning four million years of human evolution now home to Africa’s densest mammalian population and Maasai pastoralist communities.

The breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater is a giant bowl of biodiversity and a UNESCO World heritage site. The Crater and wider Ngorongoro Conservation area support thousands of wildlife and people - being the only protected area in Tanzania where wild animals and people live together in wild habitat.

Ngorongoro originates from the onomatopoeic Maasai word that describes the sound of the cowbell (ngoro ngoro) that rings as it jostles around the necks of their cattle. The area is steeped in historic significance, where scientists have uncovered prehistoric fossilised evidence of human evolution stretching back four million years. The discoveries were made at Olduvai gorge, a 14m deep ravine, one of the most significant paleoanthropological sites in the world.

The Crater formed after one of eight volcanoes (reaching higher than Mt Kilimanjaro) imploded around two million years ago, making this volcanic caldera the largest in the world.

Its rich biodiversity encompasses savannahs, salt lakes, woodlands, and highland plains, and connects the famous Serengeti and Maasai Mara to the west, with the Great Rift Valley to the east, with millions of wildebeest migrating across its plains annually.

Wildlife corridors are essential to the survival of all migratory species, including our largest land mammal, the African elephant. They travel for hundreds of kilometres in search of fresh water and food sources during the changing seasons. The volcanic salt lakes, such as Lake Magadi on the Crater floor, provide essential nutrients and minerals to elephants that help with bone growth and hormone development - particularly important for young elephants.

The habitat also supports the Maasai pastoralist tribes that have stewarded this land for thousands of years, once hunter-gatherers, they live in balance with nature, and hold unique knowledge of the environment.

Encircling the Crater rim is the Northern Highlands Forest Reserve, a key buffer area for wildlife, that connects to one of the last remaining elephant corridors in Northern Tanzania - Upper Kitete Elephant Corridors. The preservation of the corridor is a major focus for our community-centric projects. Learn more here: https://wildsurvivors.org/elephant-corridors