The Manor at Ngorongoro is a luxurious, Cape Dutch-style estate located on a colonial-era Arabica coffee plantation with lush, manicured grounds, horse stables, gardens, and romantic, old-world charm.

The estate is situated in the Ngorongoro Highlands, with easy access for safaris into the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater. The Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact, non-flooded caldera and is home the around 30 000 wild animals, including all of Africa's Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo). Safaris inside the crater offer guaranteed wildlife around every corner and the setting itself is like nowhere else on the continent.

Besides safaris into the Ngorongoro Crate, activities for guests at the estate include day trips into Lake Manyara National Park, explorations into the Olduvai Gorge, where archeological digs uncovered the remains of some of the earliest human ancestors, tours of the coffee plantation, horseback riding on the estate, spa treatments, croquet, birding, or simply relaxing before or after a safari in the nearby Serengeti.

The property offers 18 luxurious cottage suites, as well as a 3-bedroom cottage adjacent to the horse stables, which is ideal for a family or a group of friends traveling together.

Like the manor house, the guest cottage suites are designed to mirror the traditional Cape Dutch architecture of the 1600s, with dark hardwood floors, white plaster walls, vaulted ceilings with exposed wood beams, and Persian rugs. The cottages include a bedroom and lounge are divided by log-burning, double-sided fireplace and the spacious bathroom has a Victorian-style, claw-footed bathtub. A lovely outdoor sun terrace can be used for private dining or just relaxing.

The Manor and guest cottages are part of a 1 500-acre coffee plantation, which guests are invited to tour. The manor's lush grounds include rolling manicured lawns, beautiful flower gardens, an herb garden, and horse stables for those who like to ride or be around horses. Children of all ages are welcome and the staff have lots of child-friendly activities for families.

About The Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The 3 200-square-mile (8 300-sq-km) Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (declared in 1981) and is one of Africa's most diverse regions. The NCA protects an extremely rich and diverse ecosystem that includes the volcanic highlands situated between Africa's Great Rift Valley to the east and the Serengeti Plains to the west. The Ngorongoro Crater is the highlight of the region, but there are numerous other volcanos and calderas, plus forests, plains, rivers, lakes, and fertile valleys.

The volcanic southeast portion of the NCA consists of a line of eight mostly extinct shield volcanos along the Gregory Rift Escarpment. Five of these volcanos are dome-shaped cones and three are calderas (collapsed volcanos). The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest of the calderas and is one of Africa's greatest eco-tourism destinations, with thousands of large mammals living in the crater.

Besides the Ngorongoro Crater, the NCA protects two other beautiful, albeit smaller craters: Olmoti and Empakaai. Neither can match the Ngorongoro Crater for wildlife, but both offer spectacular walking safaris into and around the craters, with almost no tourists. Both craters are easily reached from camps in the region on a day trip. The local Maasai have some small villages around these craters.

The northwest portion of the NCA adjoins with Serengeti National Park and consists of open grasslands and plains and the Gol Mountains (consisting of inselbergs). To the west of the Ngorongoro Highlands towards the Serengeti lies Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleo-anthropological sites on Earth, where Mary and Louis Leakey made discoveries about the earliest hominins. The nearby Salei Plains are a hotspot for the annual Great Migration of wildebeest and zebra, which move through the NCA between December and April.

The far western part of NCA includes the Lake Ndutu Area, which is a very popular destination in the southern Serengeti plains, especially when the migration of wildebeests and zebras are present in huge numbers between December and April. Some of the camps around Ndutu are located in the Serengeti National Park while others are in the NCA.

Ngorongoro is Tanzania's most visited wildlife area, attracting some 300 000 tourists from around the world each year and it is one of Africa's must-see destinations. Many safari itineraries begin in Arusha town to the east, driving west towards the Serengeti and stopping to visit Ngorongoro (and sometimes Lake Manyara) for a few days along the way.

About the NGORONGORO CRATER

The Ngorongoro Crater was formed when an enormous volcano on the western portion of Africa's Great Rift Valley erupted and collapsed upon itself some 2.5 million years ago. The violent explosion left a 2 000-foot (610-meter) deep, 12-mile (19-km) diameter crater. The crater covers an area of 108 square miles (280 sq kms), which makes it the world's largest intact and un-flooded caldera. The height of the original volcano is estimated to have been as high as 19 000 feet (5 800 meters).

Today the Ngorongoro Crater is a haven for wildlife and home to between 25 and 30 thousand large mammals, including Africa's highest density of predators. Wildlife in the Crater includes all of Africa's Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino), providing incredible game viewing for its daily visitors. Accommodation is not allowed within the crater, so game drives descend every morning for day-long safaris in the crater and ascend to their camps, many of which are located along the crater rim, at dusk.

The steep and busy "descent road" is usually bumper-to-bumper when the morning game drives depart down into the crater at dawn. Thick mist floats through the highland forest along the rim and upper crater wall, creating an ethereal atmosphere, with birds singing and eager tourists awaiting their first exploration into the crater. The misty forest is mesmerizing in the early morning, with ancient trees, epiphytes, ferns, orchids and tree moss.

The main feature on the crater floor is Lake Magadi, a shallow soda lake which size is dependent upon recent rainfall. The lake supports huge numbers of flamingos, especially during the dry season.

Wildlife in the crater is diverse and includes all of Africa's Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, rhino). Four of the five are a virtual guarantee on a day-long safari, with leopard being the toughest to find. Black rhinos number around twenty individuals. Lion numbers vary between 50 and 80, while the most abundant predator in the crater is the spotted hyena, which number between three and four hundred. Both golden and black-backed jackal are present in good numbers.

The lovely Lerai Forest on the southern side of Lake Magadi consists almost entirely of yellow fever tree Acacias. The forest is home to bushbuck, waterbuck, and eland. There are also several hippo pools in the crater.

Open grassland covers much of the crater floor, offering ideal habitat for grazing herbivores. Wildebeest and zebra are very common, as well as smaller numbers of buffalo, Thomson's gazelle, Grant's gazelle, hartebeest, mountain reedbuck, warthog, and topi. Elephants range throughout the crater and even climb in and out entirely. Some of the country's biggest and oldest bull elephants are full-time residents. Two species absent from the crater itself are giraffe and impala, although the occasional giraffe has been known to visit the crater, but they never stay long.

Birding in the crater is very good, with flamingos often found on Lake Magadi, as well as abundant water birds in the swamp areas. The kori bustard is commonly seen, as are ostrich and several species of vulture. Over 280 species of bird have been recorded in the crater.

Strict adherence to the crater's game drive rules are enforced and there is no off-road driving. Visitors must stay in their vehicles except at designated picnic spots.