More than 600,000 visitors yearly coming to Tanzania make the Ngorongoro crater their safari destination to realise their lifetime dreams.
What you need to know:
The live broadcast was meant to unwrap the beauty and authenticity of the Ngorongoro crater and many thousands of the wildlife species, including the Big Five – elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards, and buffalos in their natural habitats to mostly, the Americans viewers.
Eight of us – all from different media houses in Tanzania – pulled into Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge mid-morning this past week. We were here by default: To witness the first ever world live broadcast dubbed On Safari: Live Inside the Ngorongoro Crater.
Voted as one of the seven African natural wonders and a UNESCO appointed world heritage site and also one among the eight wonders of the world; the Ngorongoro - known as Africa’s garden of Eden - offers wildlife viewing that rivals the very best on Earth. It is one of the quintessential travel destinations to an African safari that hosts more than half of the tourists who visit Tanzania every year.
The live broadcast was meant to unwrap the beauty and authenticity of the Ngorongoro crater and many thousands of the wildlife species, including the Big Five – elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards, and buffalos in their natural habitats to mostly, the Americans viewers.
To put us in the real business of the day, and after an exchange of pleasantries, Nickson Nyange and Melita Asante, all senior staff from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority took us through the day’s event.
The United States of America is one of the traditional markets for Tanzania tourism and it brings in the largest share of international tourists, Melita said. The other traditional market for Tanzania tourism, according to him, include the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
Having arrived in Ngorongoro a week earlier, the 20 crew members of the ABC News - a popular TV station in the US based in New York – was getting ready to air a three-hour live broadcast to nearly 52 million American viewers through Good Morning America (GMA) programme. GMA is a popular programme that runs from 7 to 9 am local time giving most of the American viewers ample time to watch it from their living rooms during breakfast.
We visited the two different stations mounted at the Ngorongoro Serena safari lodge to get a briefing on how the live broadcast was tested and organised.
Early afternoon, all was set for the GMA live broadcast: On Safari: Live inside the Ngorongoro Crater. ABC News anchor Amy Robach with world-renowned wildlife expert Dave Salmon took viewers through an amazing journey from tens of thousands of miles away in the Ngorongoro crater floor in Tanzania.
Viewers were treated to a never-seen-before Virtual Reality and Drone technology cameras filming in the Ngorongoro crater. Viewers throughout the world were able to access the programme through the Internet and other social media platforms.
After spending a few minutes of the unique live broadcast at the Ngorongoro Serena safari lodge, we were driven down to the Ngorongoro crater floor to have a glimpse at the ‘live filming’. We were overwhelmed watching a large group of elephants feeding on lush grass on an expansive landscape with the ABC News crew vehicles parked nearby reporting live from the scene.
Although magnificent to watch, it wasn’t only the famous Big Five that made the Ngorongoro crater special and memorable to millions of viewers. Zebras, warthogs, wildebeests, impalas, gazelles and more were everywhere on the crater floor. Wherever I looked the crater was always in motion.
Certainly, the admiration of the natural beauty and wonders, which was beamed live to millions of people in the US and other parts of the world, was an exceptional experience and a treat for the senses. GMA was the world’s first live broadcast from Tanzania to bring to viewers the uncensored pictures of nature at its best.
ABC News viewers watched a thrilling live broadcast of the natural wonders of the flora and fauna, a beautiful discovery of wildlife with interpretive encounters and a cultural aspect of the nomadic Maasai wedding, a community living in the Ngorongoro with their cattle.
The GMA programme added a thrust to Tanzania on the world tourism map and gave Tanzania tourism the great publicity to showcase one of its popular wildlife and safari richness recognised globally.
More than 600,000 visitors yearly coming to Tanzania make the Ngorongoro crater their safari destination to realise their lifetime dreams. Dr. Freddy Manongi, the Ngorongoro CEO, hopes that the additional numbers will be realised from the American market beginning from a year’s span.
“We can only hope that after a year we can start seeing more American tourists coming as a result of this wonderful live filming”, said Dr Manongi.
