Norongorogoro Crater
Tanzania 2008
Assessment Criteria
Satisfaction in %
Comments
Pool
80
nicely located but freezing cold, rather an eyecatcher
Tent/ Room
90
big room, spceious bathroom
Restaurant atmosphere
70
tight and crowded however somewhat charming
Food
80
okay
Management & Staff
80
nice and friendly, a bit helpless here and there
Camp/ Lodge
70
huge, we knew that but still. Not Safari kind of.
Originality of reserve
80
it's nicely maintained
Diversity of reserve
100
salty, dry, humit, savana... strange place really
Wildlife - quantity
50
given the space its a lot, but dont expect large herds
Wildlife - diversity
100
well, there is everything in
Wildlife - extraordinary occurrences
90
rhinos
First of all: it is not a crater. It's just being called as such but newest research found out, that the "crater" is a collapsed volcano
which was empty from inside. Fine, we won't change the name.
The crater reaches at the rim well above 2800m and looks from their handy. In fact when you go down, the crater is much bigger
than thought of and the roads doesn’t allow to cross is easy and fast. What is wired is that it is swamped with animals (not like a
zoo but given the space...) and this is not because the animals can’t go out. No, they can! Parts of the crater wall are less steep
and animals move in and out. But not only animals: vehicles from different camps move in and out too. It is not allowed for a
vehicle to stay longer than 6 hours in the crater. At night nobody may stay in the crater - except rangers.
At the edge of the crater there are several lodges located. We have chosen Serena Lodge. In our view it was nicely done but by
far not the most exclusive one. The dining room is huge. But then kind of charming too, the staff is very friendly - albeit not perfect
but that doesn’t matter much here. After the safari of 6hrs one arrives early enough to enjoy a nice afternoon in the comfortable
chairs located at the terrace overlooking the crater and watching the sun going down at 12 hours. Serena Lodge is the only one
which is perfectly located for sunsets. For us the reason to go there (and it is not overpriced).
One thing worth to be mention: One cannot expect to be alone anywhere in the crater. There are lots and lots and lots of vehicles.
The Crater is a well known plot. If you accept this and you don’t plan your entire holiday there (I think one visit is enough) then you
will be okay and happy that you made it. Consider that this is not a kind of safari which you would have like being in the Mara!
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