Olduvai Gorge Museum, Paleontological museum in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.
The Olduvai Gorge Museum stands on the rim of Olduvai Gorge where the main gorge meets a smaller side gorge, in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Its quartzite stone buildings, designed by engineer Joshua Mwankunda, opened in 2018 and form a ring around a central open area that follows the layout of a Maasai boma. Inside, one hall covers the Leakey family's work and another the Laetoli footprints.
Excavations at Olduvai Gorge began in the 1930s under Louis and Mary Leakey, who uncovered fossils that changed how scientists understood early human history. The museum building was set up later to house and present those findings to the public.
The museum includes a cultural boma with spaces where visitors can learn about Maasai culture, added when the new building opened in 2018. Its exhibit halls form a ring around a central open area, a layout that mimics a Maasai boma and draws on Maasai building skills.
The museum sits on the rim of the gorge at the junction of the main gorge and a smaller side gorge, about 5 km beyond the turnoff from the road linking Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater. Most visitors arrive by safari car, stop for lunch and a museum tour, then continue to the Serengeti. Two outdoor lecture areas host orientation talks by museum staff.
Near the museum, fossilized footprints of early hominids were found preserved in volcanic ash, showing that upright walking was already common in this region around 3.6 million years ago. These prints were discovered at a site called Laetoli, a short drive away, and casts of them are shown inside the museum.
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