Olduvai Gorge Museum

This is where the Leakey family worked for a half century and discovered Homo habilis, among many other important finds that have greatly expanded our understanding of human evolution. They discovered the Proconsul skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans, the robust Zinjanthropus, the earliest type of stone tools are called Olduwan technology after this site and the Laetoli footprints were found nearby.

The very high-quality exhibits had a great deal of emphasis on HOW early humans lived -- social structure, hunting methods and tool use, etc. They introduced me to the discipline of taphonomy, which looks at marks left on bones to gain insight into these practices.

The site looks out over the gorge, but we were a bit rushed and had not left enough time to drive down and visit the actual dig site which has not actually been worked since Mary Leakey's death in the 90s.

We then had a long drive to our lodgings, made longer by a shock absorber mount breaking, causing the thing to drag. We stopped at the park gate, where we got a local mechanic to remove the item. We got into the camp at 9:00, so I did not have much time to enjoy it. Thie Into The Wild Tented Camp was another tented camp and was even more luxurious than the last one. We did see a Mr. and Mrs. Lion walk across the road.Read more