A crater you look into, not one you enter
Ngurdoto is the second volcano in Arusha National Park and, unlike Mount Meru, it is a complete one. TANAPA describes a pear-shaped volcano rising to 1,853 metres with a classic summit crater measuring about three to four kilometres across and 360 metres deep, and calls it a miniature Ngorongoro.
The comparison is fair in shape and misleading in practice, because the essential difference is access. On the Ngorongoro Crater you descend to the floor and drive it. At Ngurdoto you do not. The floor — a closed world of swamp, glade and undisturbed forest holding buffalo, warthog and occasional elephant — is looked down into from the rim and left alone. Anyone arriving expecting a second crater floor safari has misunderstood the site.
The park was originally gazetted in 1960 as Ngurdoto Crater National Park, which is a fair measure of how central this feature was to the park’s creation.
The rim viewpoints
A track follows the crater rim to five viewing points, which TANAPA names as Mikindu, the Rock, Buffalo, the Glade and Leitong, the highest of them. From Leitong the authority describes the snowy peak of Kilimanjaro, the Momella lakes and the lower slopes of Meru all visible on a clear morning.
That view is the reason to do the rim early. Cloud builds on both mountains through the day, and by mid-morning the Kilimanjaro half of it is frequently gone.
The forest, and the monkeys in it
TANAPA describes Ngurdoto Forest as a dense forest surrounding the crater with many varieties of tree species, and names it as an ideal habitat for black-and-white colobus monkey. The park as a whole is, in the authority’s own words, probably the best place in Tanzania to watch black and white colobus, and their loud guttural territorial calls carry through this forest — see primate watching.
The crater rim is one of the park’s six designated nature trails, and TANAPA names the route as Ngurdoto Crater Rim via Leitong to Buffalo. Any walk in Arusha National Park must be accompanied by an armed ranger and arranged at one of the two gates, which is a park-specific published rule rather than a general TANAPA one. See walking safaris and forest walks.
Getting there
Ngurdoto is in the south-eastern part of the park, nearest the Ngurdoto and Ngongongare gates on the Arusha side. TANAPA names Ngongongare, near Usa River, as the main access. The park is about 32 kilometres from Arusha and roughly 40 from Kilimanjaro International Airport, which is what makes a half-day here practical in a way that no other northern park allows.
Common questions
Can you go down into Ngurdoto Crater?
No. The floor is left undisturbed and visitors look into the crater from the rim viewpoints. This is the main difference between Ngurdoto and Ngorongoro.
How big is it?
TANAPA gives a summit crater about three to four kilometres in diameter and 360 metres deep, on a volcano rising to 1,853 metres.
Can you see Kilimanjaro from the rim?
From Leitong, the highest viewpoint, on a clear morning. Cloud usually builds by mid-morning, so it is an early activity.