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Olduvai Gorge


This is where it all began. 

Right here in the Great Rift Valley, between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, took mankind its first steps.

Until now Olduvai Gorge has the earliest evidence of our ancestors. With hundreds of fossilized bones, stone tools and even footprints its a goldmine for paleoanthropologists. The footprints in a volcanic rock in Laetoli are about 3.6 millions years old and thereby older than the oldest river bed in the ravine. In this ravine which is about 48km/30miles long but only 90m/295ft deep, are four river beds that developed over the last 2 million years. As the Great Rift Valley - which will devide Africa in a few million years - is still in motion the Olduvai Gorge was formed about 30,000 years ago.
The name comes from a misspelling of Oldupai which is a wild sisal plant in Maasai language.

The skull of the "Nutcracker Man" (Zinjanthropus), born around 1.75 million b.c., was found here and can be seen. There are also many other discovered tools and informations about the "Cradle of Mankind" in the nearby museum. 

 

 

Thank you for considering us. We look forward to bringing you the best safari experience! 
Contact: +255 732 973893 / +255 7555 49872 / + 255 686 952 599 
Email: booking@chiefstours.com | Website: https://chiefstours.com/
Address: P.O.Box 8544, Chagga Str., Moshi, Tanzania 

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