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| Ngorongoro Crater,Tanzania. |
THE Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Authority is mulling ways to reduce the number of vehicles entering the
Crater, following complaints from visitors claiming that there are just
too many cars going into the caldera.
"We have been getting complaints from tourists who think there are so
many vehicles descending into the crater at the moment, thus
distracting them from enjoying the natural scenery as well as wildlife,"
stated Dr Freddy Manongi, the NCAA Chief Conservator.
But, the increasing number of vehicles in Ngorongoro Crater, on the
other hand, goes to show how popular the caldera is getting by
attracting more than 500,000 tourists every year and generating revenues
averaging at 55 billion/- annually.
"This year, 2014, we target to collect over 60 billion/- from
tourism," stated Dr Manongi adding that the issue of how to control
traffic in the crater is their current headache, because at the moment,
"game viewing" in the caldera can only be done in cars.
With the high tourism season expected to kick off here at the end of
next month, the number of vehicles descending into the crater at a
particular time could reach 400 in a day, as the Ngorongoro Conservation
continues to climb up charts in the global travel industry.
There are limitations; the NCAA prohibit all vehicles that are not
Four-Wheel-Drives (4WD, to descend into the legendary crater whose walls
steeping at 610 meters high, can be challenging to climb.
"We have received proposals from some firms that now want to
introduce Hot Air Balloon tourism and we are working on this concept as
one of the possible measures to cut down the number of motor vehicles in
the crater," said the NCAA Conservator.
Balloon tourism is currently practiced in the adjacent Serengeti National Park.
He ruled out the possibility of introducing horse-back riding in the
crater because the latter is essentially filled with thousands of
ferocious carnivores such as lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyenas not to
mention aggressive horned herbivores like buffaloes and rhinos as well
as giant and poisonous snakes.
According to Dr Manongi, it was however also time to promote other
attractions within Ngorongoro including the other caldera, the beautiful
Empakai Crater as well as the historical Oldupai Gorge and Laetoli
sites where the first human beings reportedly lived.
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