Olduvai Gorge and Museum

About this place

A steep ravine in the Great Rift Valley about 48 kilometres long, and one of the most important sites in the world for understanding early human history. Its official name, Oldupai, comes from the wild sisal plant that grows there. Louis and Mary Leakey excavated here for decades. In 1959 Mary found a famous skull of an early human relative about 1.8 million years old, and remains of other species followed, along with the oldest stone tools known in the region, which took the gorge's name. On the rim stands a small museum showing casts of skulls and tools, explaining the layers of earth that hold millions of years of history, with a replica of the famous Laetoli footprints, found about 45 kilometres away. The museum terrace looks over the gorge and its coloured strata. The visit is short, and most travellers fit it in on the road between Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. The museum fee is paid on site.