Spanish family tragedy: Fatal accident in Tanzanian national park

A tragic event occurred in the northern part of Tanzania. A family from Spain wanted to drive their car to the edge of the Ngorongoro volcano. Two people died, and the others sustained serious injuries.

According to Elirehema Doriye, director of Ngorongoro National Park, the mother and her daughter in the car died, while the woman's husband and her son sustained serious injuries. The family involved in the accident was from Bizkaia, the Basque Country of Spain.

An eyewitness, quoted by Tanzanian media, reported that the vehicle in which the Spanish tourists were travelling encountered difficult terrain, and the driver "apparently did not have enough experience to drive in such conditions."

As a result, the vehicle stopped on a rocky slope. As the witness recounted, after a moment, the car with four people inside rolled down from a significant height to the crater’s bottom. According to park authorities, this was the first fatal accident in its history.

Ngorongoro is an extinct volcano with an area of about 260 square kilometres and a salty lake in the middle. It is a rugged, challenging terrain for car travel, especially its rocky edges rising over 600 metres.

Ngorongoro is famous for its rich flora and fauna. Tourists are guaranteed to encounter the so-called Big Five: the elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros, which further encourages visitors to this exotic spot. It is also a heavily protected park, clearly divided with marked trails and informational signs to facilitate travel.