Olduvai Gorge is a scar across the dry plains of northern Tanzania, about forty-eight kilometres long and nearly a hundred metres deep, and what it holds is nothing less than the story of our own beginnings. The walls of the gorge expose layers of volcanic ash and sediment laid down over almost two million years, and in them Louis and Mary Leakey, working over decades, found stone tools and the bones of early humans. In 1959 Mary Leakey uncovered a skull of an early hominin, now called Paranthropus boisei, and later work produced remains of Homo habilis, one of the first members of our own genus.
A few dozen kilometres to the south lie the Laetoli footprints, a trail of tracks left in volcanic ash more than three million years ago by early human ancestors walking upright, one of the most moving finds in all of archaeology. At Olduvai itself, a small museum on the rim displays fossils and tools and explains the work, and guides take visitors down to the spots where key finds were made. The name comes from the Maasai word for the wild sisal that grows in the gorge.
The landscape around is open, dry and wide, a golden savanna of grass and flat-topped acacias. Maasai herders move with their cattle across the plain, and wildlife, including wildebeest, zebra and gazelles, appears at certain times of year. The road runs between the Ngorongoro crater highlands and the Serengeti plains, and the temperature swings from cool mornings to hot afternoons. The surface is a mixture of paved and gravel sections, with dust and corrugations on the unpaved parts, and heavy safari vehicles that throw up clouds. Check whether motorcycles are permitted in the conservation area, because restrictions apply and fees are charged.
The midday sun is fierce, with little shade, so bring a hat and sunscreen. The best months for visiting are from June to October, when the weather is dry and clear. At sunset, the walls of the gorge turn orange and red, a fitting colour for the oldest chapter of the human story.