Once a gigantic volcano, the Ngorongoro Crater in northern Tanzania is now the largest intact caldera in the world. Some maintain that, before it erupted, it would have been higher than Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Today, long since having collapsed and eroded, it is an extensive highland area with the famous 600 m (2,000 ft) deep crater as its focal point.
Nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens on earth. An estimated 25 000 large mammals are resident in this bowl of plenty.
