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! click here: BACK TO Kenya and Tanzania Main Page