Ngorongoro Conservation Area World Heritage Site

Official name

Ngorongoro Conservation Area | UNESCO

Country

Tanzania | Map

Continent

Africa

Location

-3.1872° Lat, 35.5408° Lon | Map

Code

39

Time Zone

Africa/Dar_es_Salaam (EAT, +0300)

Current Time

Category

Mixed

Description

Inscribed 1979. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, 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.