Ngorongoro Crater

Both Kenya and Tanzania are in highly volcanic areas which makes for incredibly fertile soil and fantastic landscapes. The Ngorongoro crater, so named after the sounds of the Maasai cowbells, is a breathtaking place to visit. Descending the steep 600+ meter escarpment takes you into the 260 sq km basin of the crater.
Because of its popularity and high demand, its only possible to get half day passes for the crater, so we could only get in at 7am and had to be out shortly after noon. Despite this frustrating time restriction we saw heaps of wildlife including hippos, hyenas, wildebeest, elephants, lions, rhinos, ostriches, flamingos and zebras. Many of these animals (like the wildebeest) are residents which are accustomed to life in the crater and never leave, while others (like the elephants) come and go as the please up the steep edges.
We passed by the lip of the crater (click panorama below to enlarge) on our way to Ndutu and then stayed there the night of my birthday on the way back and were thoroughly enchanted by it. I had the theme from Jurassic Park stuck in my head almost the entire time just being so overwhelmed by the abundance of animals and beauty of the countryside.