

NORTHERN TANZANIA SCENIC
A spectacular scenic flight over the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the volcanoes that make up the Northern Rift of Tanzania, a totally unique and dramatic area. The volcanic region of northern Tanzania has an incredible diversity of landscapes.
The excursion will start with an early morning collection from your lodge, we head up to the famed Ngorongoro crater, where we will fly around the rim of this ancient caldera. We will continue through the cool Crater Highlands and over the Rift Escarpment to Lake Natron in the hot valley floor. As we fly up the lake you will see its ever changing colours - reds, purples and oranges, a consequence of its algae rich water which attracts numerous flocks of flamingos. On the return back to the southern shores of the lake we will land at Ngare Sero, the largest preserved human fossil footprint site that has ever been discovered in Africa. We will continue on to fly around the coolest active volcano in the world, Ol Doinyo Lengai, we land here and peer into its bubbling crater. Climbing back up the Rift Valley we will fly over the Empakai Crater, often full of flamingos.

NGORONGORO CRATER HIGHLANDS
The Ngorongoro Crater is estimated to be 2.5 million years old, it is the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world. It stretches an astounding 20km across, with a forested rim that rises 600 meters from the floor. The caldera has a rich biodiversity, with abundant wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists.
Plate tectonics, volcanism, landslides, erosion and deposition are all very evident in this view of the volcanic Crater Highlands along the East African Rift in Tanzania. The Crater Highlands rise far above the adjacent savannas, capture moisture from passing air masses, and hosts extensive montane forests. Over time, streams erode downwards deeply dissecting the volcanic slopes.
LAKE NATRON
This primeval-soup like shallow alkaline lake is high in cynobacteria, an algae that releases a chemical which damages the cells, nervous system and liver of most of the organisms that consume it. These salt loving microorganisms thrive in this alkaline water, creating the rich red colour. The lake is a flamingo paradise as they do not have to contend with any predators and can feed on the algae, as a result 75% of the worlds population of lesser flamingo are born on the shores of Lake Natron.



