Ngorongoro Conservation Area — Western Plains

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The western, low-lying grassland portion of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a multiple-land-use protected area of 8,292 km² established in 1959 and inscribed by UNESCO in 1979. Unlike the national park, it is legally shared with Maasai pastoralists and their livestock. Its western plains around Ndutu and Salei are continuous with the Serengeti short-grass plains and carry a large share of the calving herds each wet season, which means the migration's most critical few weeks happen partly outside the national park.