The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is 8,920 kilometres squared and is situated between Arusha and the Serengeti, with the Ngorongoro Crater at its heart.

The floor of the Crater, a vast natural amphitheatre, teems with game - elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah, wildebeest, zebra and gazelle share the base of this collapsed volcano with Masai tribesmen, permitted to graze their cattle on the Crater floor by day but no longer allowed to inhabit the Crater. Birds hover and dart, with thousands of flamingo casting a pink haze over the lake on the Crater floor.

The Gol Mountains are an ancient and rugged formation rising to the north west of the Ngorongoro Crater highlands. They straddle the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Maasai village areas, they are divided by the valley of Angata Kiti which leads to the Salei Plains.The sheer walls of Ol Karien Gorge in the Gol Mountains provide rainy-season breeding sites for hundreds of Ruppell's Griffon Vultures. In the dry season it is a crucial water source for Maasai and their livestock.
The Shifting Sands, North of Oldupai Gorge, where a long, black sand dune is driven across the plains by the prevailing easterly winds. It moves an average of 17m a year. It has important religious significance to the local Maasai.
The huge monolith of Nasera Rock stands 80 metres high and towers over the surrounding short grass plains west of the Gol Mountains. There is evidence of prehistoric man sheltering here for thousands of years.