Is it a crater? Although it's called the Ngorongoro crater, it is technically a caldera - formed when a massive volcano collapsed inward after a huge eruption roughly 2.5 million years ago. 

A volcanic crater is a relatively small, bowl-shaped structure created by an eruption blasting material outwards. A caldera, on the other hand, is a massive depression formed when a giant volcano erupts and the emptied magma chamber collapses in on itself.

Whatever you prefer to call it, the Ngorongoro crater is a spectacular geological wonder. It is the world's largest unbroken, unflooded caldera, a bowl-shaped depression with a diameter of around 20 kilometers and steep walls towering up to 600 meters above the floor. Today, it holds a unique and diverse ecosystem, featuring a lake, large grass plains, rivers, hills, and woodlands. 

This collapsed volcano, once an inferno and a raging sea of molten rock, is now a thriving wildlife sanctuary. Descending the winding one-way road from the crater rim into the grass plains feels like stepping into the Garden of Eden. Or, if you prefer a more modern analogy, it’s like suddenly finding yourself in the middle of The Lion King. 

The lakeshore in front of you is dotted with pink flamingos; a group of muddy buffalo crosses the road to the left; a couple of bull elephants graze peacefully on the distant plains; and by the roadside, a jackal gives you a brief glance before disappearing into the tall grass. 

At the picnic site for a quick toilet break, your guide tells you to stay in the car until he has checked the ladies room, as there was a lion sleeping in there the last time he visited. In most places, this would be surreal, but here, it just feels totally normal. A lion sleeping in the ladies room. Of course. Nothing unusual about that.

The steep crater walls might lead one to believe that the wildlife is confined to this space. And honestly, it wouldn’t be the worst place to be confined. But in reality, except for the giraffes - which you will not find here as they are not built for those steep descents - the animals are wandering freely in and out of the crater. It is hard to imagine anything climbing those walls, especially a herd of elephants. But that is just another element that makes this place so extraordinary. 

This volcanic paradise offers the full range of what the wild has to offer. While the soft pink flamingos are a picture-perfect idyll and pose no threat to anyone other than the algae they consume, in the next moment, you might encounter the foul smell of a half-rotten carcass or a pack of hyenas with their eerie cackling, feasting on a buffalo that they most likely started eating while it was still alive. 

Survival of the fittest is the only rule. Raw nature is not always beautiful and colored in shades of pink, but this is the circle of life - and it’s perfect.