Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Ngorongoro Conservation Area
View of the crater
LocationNgorongoro District, Arusha Region, Tanzania
Coordinates03°12′36″S 35°27′36″E / 3.21000°S 35.46000°E / -3.21000; 35.46000
Area8,292 km2 (3,202 sq mi)
Established1959
VisitorsOver 500,000 per year
Governing bodyNgorongoro Conservation Area Authority
TypeMixed
Criteria(iv)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)
Designated1979 (3rd session)
Reference no.39
RegionAfrica
Endangered1984–1989

Ngorongoro Conservation Area (UK: /(ə)ŋˌɡɔːrəŋˈɡɔːr/, US: /ɛŋˌɡɔːrŋˈɡɔːr, əŋˌɡrɔːŋˈɡr/) is a protected area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Ngorongoro District, 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha City in Arusha Region, within the Crater Highlands geological area of northeastern Tanzania. The area is named after Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera within the area. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), which administers the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), is an arm of the Tanzanian government and its boundaries follow the boundary of the Ngorongoro District in the Arusha Region. The western portion of the park abuts the Serengeti National Park (SNP). The area comprising the NCA, SNP, and Kenya's Maasai Mara game reserve is home to Great Migration, a massive annual migration of millions of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, and other animals. The NCA also contains Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area is one of the most popular attractions in Tanzania with 752,232 tourists visiting it in 2023.

The 2009 Ngorongoro Wildlife Conservation Act placed new restrictions on human settlement and subsistence farming in the Crater, displacing Maasai pastoralists, most of whom had been relocated to Ngorongoro from their ancestral lands to the north when the British colonial government established Serengeti National Park in 1959.