The common warthog inside Ngorongoro Crater, in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, East Africa. The common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) is a wild member of the pig family (Suidae) found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the Swahili word for warthog is ngiri, many Tanzanians and Kenyans traditionally use pumbaa to describe a warthog — meaning foolish, ignorant, negligent and stupid — as the animals can mess up a garden or village. Pumbaa and Timon are the names of an animated warthog and meerkat duo introduced in Disney's 1994 animated feature film "The Lion King" and its franchise. // Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is famous for safaris. Herein is Ngorongoro Crater, an inactive volcano which formerly rose up to 19,000 feet above sea level until collapsing 2 million years ago. Its crater is 2,000 feet deep with a caldera floor at 5,900 feet elevation, covering 100 square miles. The Maasai people named Ngorongoro Crater after the cowbell sound, "ngoro ngoro." The Serengeti Plains and Ecosystem span the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania. Based on fossil evidence found at the Olduvai Gorge, various hominid species have occupied the NCA for 3 million years. Pastoral tribes replaced hunter-gatherer groups from 2,000 years ago through the 1700s. By the 1800s, the earlier groups were displaced by the Maasai — fearsome warriors and cattle rustlers from what is now South Sudan. In 1928, hunting was prohibited on all land within the crater rim, except the former Siedentopf farms. From 1948–2024, the native pastoralists have been increasingly disenfranchised and forcibly displaced by park authorities. UNESCO honors the NCA as a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve.
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