Olduvai Gorge, also known as the Cradle of Mankind, is situated in the Great Rift Valley between Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. Olduvai is internationally recognized for Louis and Mary Leakey’s famous discoveries of early humans and magnificent antiquities documenting the evolutionary history of our stone tool-using ancestors and vertebrate fauna over the last two million years.

This paleoanthropological site in the eastern Serengeti Plain is a steep-sided ravine composed of two branches that have a combined length of about 48 km and depth of 90 metres. Deposits exposed in the sides of the gorge cover have yielded a treasure trove of fossil remains. There is a small museum showing all the fossils and tools unearthed in the area, giving insight into mankind’s evolution.

“Olduvai” is a misspelling of “Oldupai”, a Masai word for the wild sisal plant that grows in the area. Visit Laetoli, near Olduwi, where the famous captured footprints of a man, woman and child can be seen. These and other discoveries provide more evidence to the theory that there were at least three hominid species in this region over 2 million years ago.