Human existence in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area goes back beyond the dawn of history as evidenced by the numerous remains of hominids, mankind’s earliest recognizable ancestors. The world’s two famous pre-historic archaeological sites Gorge and Laetoli are in the area. The Laetoli footprints of our remote ancient ancestors lived about 3.5 million years ago, are found in the area. The Zinjanthropus man lived about 1.8 million years ago, Homo Habilis to Homo Sapiens were found in Olduvai Gorge.
The story of our ancient ancestors told in the fossils of Olduvai and Laetoli confirms that the humans and hominids have been living in the area for millions of years. In historic times, humankind in Ngorongoro includes the Hadzabe and pastoral Maasai numbering 52,000 with their strong insistence in their tradition and customs, which attract many visitors to the area.

The Serengeti National Park, Tanzania’s largest national park is located about 335 kilometers north-west of Arusha town. Most tourists visiting the world famous national park are fascinated by the annual migration; millions of Wilde Beest, Zebra and Thomson’s Gazelles are driven by ancient instinct to migrate to the Maasai Mara in Kenya.

The Wilde Beest usually moves through the northern woodlands between June and December every year to feed on the long grass found during this season. During February and March they migrate to the southern plains where the graze is rich in minerals need to rear their young, when the rain stops in May and June the herds are once again forced to migrate to the north-west. Migratory birds including the stork, pallid harrier and peregrine falcon also use the southern plains during the season.

The Serengeti is also renowned for its wealth of leopards and lion, the vast reaches of the park helps the black rhino fight extinction and provide a protected breeding ground for the vulnerable cheetah. The Kirawira River with its population of giant Nile crocodiles has made this area very famous worldwide.

The fierce sun sucks the moisture from the landscape, baking the earth a dusty red, the withered grass as brittle as straw. The Tarangire River has shrivelled to a shadow of its wet season self. But it is choked with wildlife. Thirsty nomads have wandered hundreds of parched kilometres knowing that here, always, there is water.

Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It's the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem - a smorgasbord for predators  and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.

During the rainy season, the seasonal visitors scatter over a 20,000 sq km (12,500 sq miles) range until they exhaust the green plains and the river calls once more. But Tarangire's mobs of elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world.