Oldupai Gorge - “The Cradle of Mankind."

One of the highlights of this Africa trip was a trip to Oldupai Gorge “The Cradle of Mankind." Oldupai is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and has added to the understanding of human evolution. Excavation work there was pioneered by Louis and Mary Leakey in the 1950s and continues today by various universities.

Oldupai gorge is in the Great Rift Valley on the eastern Serengeti Plains and it is about 30 miles long. The gorge is named after the Maasi word Oldupai a wild sisal plant. The more common spelling "Olduvai" is the result of a miss-hearing of the word by early map makers. The Gorge was re-named in 2005 to correct this mistake. It was amazing and very moving to stand on a spot that connected me back to the beginning of human history

The first artifacts in Olduvai (pebble tools and choppers) date to circa 2 million years ago but fossil remains of human ancestors have been found from as long as 2.5 million years ago. Oldupai has yielded a lot of fossil remains from Pliocene to Pleistocene times (from about five million to 10.000 years ago), including the skull of the primitive hominid Australopithecus boisei or nutcracker man, million year old that proved that our prehuman a species that became extinct about one million years ago. In 1975 at nearby Laetoli ,Dr. Mary Leakey found fossilized footprints that were 3.75 ancestors walked in an upright position. WOW!

Not only did we get an introductory lecture in the visitor's center and visit the museum,Wilfred arranged for us to go down into the gorge with a guide and see the actual site where there is a small monument placed on the site where the fossils were found. I thought I would cry! Joseph the Oldupai guide

Wilfred
I will now explain how Wilfred was reborn as Lewis Hamilton. The trip from the lodge to Oldupai was not an easy one. The roads were very very very rocky. It was hard going for a few hours. It gave new meaning to the words African massage. Wilfred demonstrated that he had the driving skills of a world class driver - hence the new moniker!