Ngorongoro Crater Quiz: Tanzania's Caldera Full of Wildlife

This Ngorongoro Crater quiz descends into the giant caldera of northern Tanzania, where lions, rhinos and flamingos share one bowl. Play 10 interactive questions on how the volcano collapsed, the crater's size and walls, the conservation area where Maasai herders graze, black rhinos, Lake Magadi, the missing giraffes and nearby Olduvai Gorge.

Start Ngorongoro Crater Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Country
Which country is Ngorongoro Crater in?
Type
What kind of landform is the crater?
Age
About when did the caldera form?
Size
About how wide is the crater floor?
Walls
Roughly how high are the crater walls?
People
Which people may graze cattle in the conservation area?
Rhino
Which endangered animal is a crater highlight?
Lake
Which soda lake draws flamingos?
Missing
Which tall animal is rarely seen on the crater floor?
Gorge
Which famous human origins site lies nearby?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which country is Ngorongoro Crater in?
Answer: Tanzania
It lies near the Serengeti.
Q2: What kind of landform is the crater?
Answer: A collapsed volcanic caldera
The volcano fell in on itself.
Q3: About when did the caldera form?
Answer: About 2.5 million years ago
The volcano may have rivaled Kilimanjaro.
Q4: About how wide is the crater floor?
Answer: About 16 to 19 km
It covers roughly 260 square kilometers.
Q5: Roughly how high are the crater walls?
Answer: About 600 m
Steep roads lead down.
Q6: Which people may graze cattle in the conservation area?
Answer: The Maasai
They share land with wildlife.
Q7: Which endangered animal is a crater highlight?
Answer: Black rhino
Only a few dozen live there.
Q8: Which soda lake draws flamingos?
Answer: Lake Magadi
It is shallow and salty.
Q9: Which tall animal is rarely seen on the crater floor?
Answer: Giraffe
Trees are few there.
Q10: Which famous human origins site lies nearby?
Answer: Olduvai Gorge
Louis and Mary Leakey worked there.

A Wildlife Bowl Inside a Volcano

Ngorongoro Crater in northern Tanzania is a caldera formed about 2.5 million years ago when a huge volcano collapsed. The floor is about 16 to 19 km across and covers around 260 square kilometers, ringed by walls about 600 m high.

Rich grassland, swamps, forest and the soda Lake Magadi support a dense population of animals, including lions, hyenas, buffalo, zebras and a small group of black rhinos. Flamingos visit the lake, but giraffes are rarely seen on the floor, partly because there are few trees to browse.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area, created in 1959, lets Maasai herders graze cattle alongside wildlife, a rare model in Africa. It was listed by UNESCO in 1979. Olduvai Gorge, where Louis and Mary Leakey found early human fossils, lies within the area.

What This Quiz Teaches

Safari fans will enjoy these questions.

How the crater formed
How big it is
Which animals live there
Who else uses the land
What sites lie nearby

Did You Know?

Mornings are cool on the crater rim.
Vehicles must leave the floor by evening.
Hippo pools lie in the swamps.
Lodges perch on the rim.
Golden jackals hunt the grasslands.