Tanzania: 'Star' Hotels Lose Ratings...

THE Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Hamis Kigwangalla, has nullified all results from recent hotel grading, citing complaints that the entire exercise was dubious.

Addressing stakeholders in travel, tourism, conservation and hospitality industries at the climax of his weeklong tour of Arusha Region, the minister said the 'hotel grading exercise,' whose second instalment results were announced about two months ago, left "a lot to be desired" in regard to the process on how it was conducted.

"... I have heard that hotel owners were subjected to paying $3,500 ... to the grading teams ... this sounds like bribing these operators to give you higher accreditation," the minister observed.

He says: "... there's great possibility that many of the hotels ranked that high did not even deserve the so-called 'stars' ... while those that could not get higher ratings were not acknowledged because they were unwilling to pay," pointed out the minister.

Last August, the Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism released results for the second leg of the country's 'Hotel Grading,' the exercise which so far have covered Arusha, Manyara and Dar es Salaam regions.

Arusha was lucky with ten properties that were accredited with 'Five- Star,' rating, to wit: the Mount Meru Hotel in the town hotels category and Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge on the Vocational Lodges category.

Other five star properties were all lodges, mostly located in National Parks or in surrounding areas such as Karatu, such as the Ngorongoro Oldean, Manor Ngorongoro, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, Tarangire Sopa Lodge, Legendary Lodge, Acacia Farm House and Lake Manyara Lodge.

THE Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Hamis Kigwangalla, has nullified all results from recent hotel grading, citing complaints that the entire exercise was dubious.

Addressing stakeholders in travel, tourism, conservation and hospitality industries at the climax of his weeklong tour of Arusha Region, the minister said the 'hotel grading exercise,' whose second instalment results were announced about two months ago, left "a lot to be desired" in regard to the process on how it was conducted.

"... I have heard that hotel owners were subjected to paying $3,500 ... to the grading teams ... this sounds like bribing these operators to give you higher accreditation," the minister observed.

He says: "... there's great possibility that many of the hotels ranked that high did not even deserve the so-called 'stars' ... while those that could not get higher ratings were not acknowledged because they were unwilling to pay," pointed out the minister.

Last August, the Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism released results for the second leg of the country's 'Hotel Grading,' the exercise which so far have covered Arusha, Manyara and Dar es Salaam regions.

Arusha was lucky with ten properties that were accredited with 'Five- Star,' rating, to wit: the Mount Meru Hotel in the town hotels category and Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge on the Vocational Lodges category.

Other five star properties were all lodges, mostly located in National Parks or in surrounding areas such as Karatu, such as the Ngorongoro Oldean, Manor Ngorongoro, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, Tarangire Sopa Lodge, Legendary Lodge, Acacia Farm House and Lake Manyara Lodge.

There were also 19 four star properties, 65 three star properties, 81 properties with 2 stars and three properties accredited with the lowest single (1) star grading.

The Manyara property grading exercise had two hotels that managed to reach 4 stars category, 11 others earned 3 stars, four properties got 2 stars and their other accommodation premises were reported still under refurbishment but likely to earn at least a single star badge each.

'And Beyond' operated, Lake Manyara Tree Lodge,' was declared the best property earning the company 4 stars. And Beyond is also behind the mega luxurious Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Ngorongoro and Kleins Camp in Serengeti.

Properties that earned 3 stars include the Tarangire Safari Lodge, Kirurumo Under-Canvas Lodge, the Eco-Science, Science Centre & Luxury Lodge, Un-Lodge En Afrique Tented Lodge, Tarangire Treetops Lodge, Maramboi Tented Lodge and Roika Tented Lodge.

Campsites were also not left behind with Kikoti Safari Camp getting 4 stars, Sanctuary Swala Tented Camp earning 3 stars, Balloon Tarangire Tented Camp also getting 3 stars.

The three stars also went to Maweninga Tented Camp, and Tarangire River Camp. Oliver's Camp, Manyara Ranch Conservancy Tented Camp and Lake Burunge Tented Camp all earned 2 stars as far as camping properties were included in the Manyara grading exercise.

The exercise enrolled a total of 32 hotels and lodges for the initial evaluation but only 12 of them were found to be sub-standard leaving 20 properties to undergo hospitality property standardisation exercise which led to a number of them being badged with stars.

Until recently, Arusha which is the tourism capital and gateway to the Northern Circuit was featuring just about 2,800 hotel beds, but said to have topped this number to 3,000, while Mwanza despite its tourism potential has only 920, Kilimanjaro also around 916 and Mbeya a measly 670; at least Dar es Salaam has more than 3,000 hotel beds.

Serengeti Faces yet Another silent but Deadly poaching Threat

ONCE subsistence poaching in Serengeti has become large- scale and commercial, putting the Tanzania’s flagship national park, under renewed pressure, after a lull of two years.

Wildlife in Serengeti, the World heritage site, had started to recover from a decade-long ivory poaching spree, which almost brought the elephant and rhino population to their knees.

The Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) conducted the ‘Great Elephant Census’ in seven key ecosystems from May to November 2014 when it was discovered that the ‘poachers bullets’ had assassinated 60 per cent of the elephants’ population in just five years.

In actual figures, the final results of the census revealed that the Tanzania’s elephant population dropped from 109,051 in 2009 to merely 43,521 in 2014, representing the decline of 60 per cent over the period under review.

The most likely cause of this decline is a dramatic upsurge in poaching in both controlled and open areas, which Tanzania has been struggling to contend with in recent years albeit with insufficient resources and technologies.

A report by the Environmental Investigation Agency has exposed that Chinese-led criminal gangs have been conspiring with corrupt Tanzanian officials to traffic huge amounts of ivory.

The illicit trade dubbed one of the most serious environmental crimes of the decade has led over a half of Tanzania's elephants to be poached in the past five years.

Silent, but deadly Poaching:

As if that is not enough, the probably forgotten, silent but deadly bush meat poaching within Serengeti Park is now putting the world’s greatest annual wildlife migration across East Africa's plains under new threat.

The planet’s largest wildlife migration -- the annual loop of two million wildebeest and other mammals across the Tanzania’s legendary national park of Serengeti and Kenya’s renowned Maasai Mara Reserve -- is a key tourist lure, generating multi-million-dollar annually.

The Serengeti National Park Chief Warden, Mr William Mwakilema, confirmed that a yet neglected subsistence poaching is becoming a real threat, as local people have adopted wire snares to catch massive animals indiscriminately, thanks to human population growth.

According to Mr Mwakilema, official data shows that from July to September 2017 alone, a total of 790 various species of wildlife have been killed by the wire snares within Serengeti National Park, painting a clear picture of the scale of the threat.

Tanzania National Park’s (TANAPA) document seen by e-Turbonews shows that a total of 500 wildebeests were killed during the period under review, followed by 110 Zebras and 54 Thomson gazelle. Other slain wildlife animals included 35 Topi, 28 Buffalo, 27 Impala, 19 warthog and 17 Eland, the document indicates. 

July was the worst moth as it saw a total of 376 wildlife animals slaughtered, compared to August and September when 248 and 166 were killed, respectively.

Yet another new report documented the snares-related wildlife catch by Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) from mid April to early October 2017, indicates that a total of 7,331 snares have been discovered and removed in Serengeti national park, meaning that in every months bush meat poachers set nearly 1,222 snares to hook animals.
 

FZS is, along with Tourism Investors, Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) other stakeholders, pioneering the De-Snaring programme in Serengeti --– to suppress the new fatal poaching method.

Presenting the findings at the Tanzania’s founding Father Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s 18th death Anniversary organized by Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO), FZS Project Manager, Mr Erik Winberg, the De-snaring Programme, which started in Mid-April, 2017, had discovered 384 animals trapped in snares of which about 100 were successfully rescued alive.

Going by the statistics, this means that at least 64 animals were being slaughtered every month by snares at Serengeti national park alone. The magnitude of the challenge demonstrates the need for acting fast, given the high rate of snaring and losses incurred during the annual migration season.

Mr Winberg said that May, June and July were critical months, as poachers actively set snares along well-established migration pathways leading to the North, particularly at the Kogatende and other hot spots on the North Western part of the Serengeti.

“The De-Snaring initiative can mitigate huge losses of migrants and also give TANAPA rangers space to apprehend poachers,” he stressed.
 

The threat has left conservationists and tour operators stunned, prompting them to come together in their attempt, to not only remove, but also curb rampant snares to save the habitual migration - one of the most extraordinary movements of animals on earth, which has occurred without interruption for thousands of years. This globally unbeaten spectacle has led Serengeti to be named the 7th Wonder of the World in the year 2008. 

De-snaring Project:
As a result, tour operators have resolved to contribute a multi-million dollar towards De-snaring campaign to honor an outstanding contribution of the Nation’s founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere on the drive.

Dubbed, ‘De-snaring Progamme’, the project’s objective is to fight against the rampant snares set by local bush meat mongers to catch massive wildlife within the country’s flagship national park of Serengeti.

Being funded by tourism investors, the project, the first of its kind, was inaugurated in Arusha, the country’s designated safari capital, during the commemoration of 18th Anniversary of Mwalimu Nyerere death, organized by Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO).

“The de-snaring project is a dedication for Mwalimu Nyerere, our revered nation founding father, for his incredible efforts in conservation drive, through which we currently harvest tourists dollars” said TATO Chairman, Mr Willbard Chambulo.

Mr Chambulo, credited as the brain behind the project, made a passionate call to all tour operators to donate only a dollar to support the Serengeti De-snaring Programme, as part of their appreciations to Mwalimu Nyerere’s outstanding contribution in conservation drive.

“Mwalimu Nyerere had a myriad options, but decided to keep abundant natural resources, until we Tanzanians are knowledgeable enough to benefit. He conserved flora and fauna where we are now reaping tourist dollars” TATO chief explained.

Mwalimu Nyerere had left a legacy which today made nature based tourism the top foreign exchange earner in the country as the industry brings home $2.05 billion annually, equivalent to 17.2 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Indeed, Tanzania has dedicated nearly 30 per cent of its surface area of 945,203 square kilometers to wildlife conservation, an area bigger than German country, thanks to late Mwalimu Nyerere’s insight.

Serengeti De-snaring project is being implemented by, among key stakeholders in Serengeti such as Frankfurt Zoological Society and Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA)

According to TATO’s Councilor spearheading conservation drive, Ms Vesna Glamocanin Tibaijuka, Serengeti wildlife population is facing yet another deadly threat as local people are silently using snare to catch massive wildlife. Snare is a small-scale poaching method targeting wildlife species for bush meat, including the abundant wildebeest.

Deadly traps in use, however, catch many other wild animals mostly elephants and predators waylaying the wildebeest

Tanzania: Be Innovative, Tourism Authorities Urged

Dar es Salaam — Tourism stakeholders have been advised to be innovative and strategic in promoting the country's attractions abroad in order to boost the number of visitors.

The Vice President, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan made the remark on Friday during the Swahili International Tourism Expo (SITE), which was held in Dar es Salaam.

"Tourism is growing very fast in Africa. It is high time stakeholders ensured that they attract more foreigners to visit our country," she said.

Ms Hassan added: "I know this sector very well because I once served as the minister for tourism in Zanzibar. Tanzania is among the few countries in the world that are endowed with abundant tourist attractions. About 28 per cent of our land has tourist attractions. Therefore, we have to be strategic and exploit our full potential to boost our revenue."

Over 180 tourism agents from 30 countries across the world attended the three-day Expo. 150 companies from different nations were well represented.

The participants were displaying their goods and services that come from the tourism industry.

Reports from tourism authorities have shown that in 2016 over 1.3 million tourists visited Tanzania and that by 2025, revenue from tourism will hit Sh16 billion per annum.

The minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, Dr Khamis Kigwangala said if the Expo's potential was fully utilised, it would give an opportunity for small entrepreneurs to promote themselves on the international market.

"This Expo has gathered a lot of tourism stakeholders from over 30 countries worldwide, small entrepreneurs do not have enough resources to promote themselves internationally, therefore this is a golden opportunity for them," the minister said.

The Chairman of the Board of Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), Judge (Rtd) Thomas Mihayo thanked President John Magufuli for his efforts in supporting growth of the tourism sector.

"These efforts of our President and his team will not be in vain, they will help make Tanzania a tourism hub, We hope that Tanzania will be the first country that comes to mind when the tourists think of where to visit," he said.

"Without government support, this sector will not grow because there are several issues that needs financial and policy support. Monetary support is needed especially in the infrastructural development such as roads, bridges and electricity in the areas where there are tourist attractions."

Earlier, while welcoming the guests and participants of the exhibition, the Executive Director of TTB, Ms Devota Mdachi said the TTB's expectations were to see the sector flourish after the exhibitions.

Tanzania host Swahili International Tourism Expo in Dar Es Salaam

Dar Es Salaam Tanzania: Tanzania’s public, tourism body said it will host an in-door International Tourism Expo, known as the Swahili International Tourism Expo in the east African nation’s commercial capital Dar Es Salaam.

The three-day tourism expo to be held on Oct.13 has attracted Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Mauritius, South Africa, Malawi, Ethiopia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and India, said Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) Managing Director Devota Mdachi. The expo will be held at the Chinese-built Julius Nyerere International Convention Center (JNICC), she told a news conference.

Mdachi said 150 tourist-related institutions and companies from 13 African countries and 186 tourist agents from across the world will meet their local counterparts and discuss how to promote the industry. She said the tourist agents will come from India, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Morocco, adding that after completion of the expo the agents will visit various tourist attractions in Tanzania.

The Swahili International Tourism Expo focuses on inbound and outbound travel business to and within Africa. The event showcases the travel possibilities in Tanzania - within and beyond the well-known attractions in 16 National Parks, around Mount Kilimanjaro and on the beautiful beaches on the Island of Zanzibar.

Conservation and sustainable tourism, as well as tropical tourism and traveling within East Africa, are additional subjects to be promoted during the expo. A new report released in June this year rated Tanzania’s tourism industry as one of the fastest growing sectors in the east African country with figures showing a surge on tourist arrivals.

The 2016 International Visitors’ Exit Survey Report indicated that the number of tourists who visited the country, east Africa’s second largest economy, continued to rise. The report showed that Tanzania hosted at least 1,284,279 tourists in 2016, compared to 1,137,156 in 2015, which was an increase of 12 percent.

The report showed revenues from the tourism industry had been rising year after year with 2.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 against 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

Tourism is Tanzania’s largest foreign exchange earner since 2012, contributing an average of 2 billion U.S. dollars annually, which is equivalent to 25 percent of all exchange earnings, according to government data. Tourism also contributes to more than 17 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), creating more than 1.5 million jobs.

Rest in Peace Liz Baker: A Remarkable Ornithologist, Conservationist, and Friend

We are deeply sad to share the news of the passing of Liz Baker, a remarkable ornithologist, conservationist, and friend. Liz is best known for her life's work on birds and phenomenal knowledge of Tanzania's wildlife and ecology. In 1985, Liz and her husband Neil began the Tanzania Bird Atlas, an ambitious effort to collect geo-referenced records of birds from volunteer observers all over the country. This incredible project greatly advanced scientific understanding of the distribution, behaviour, and conservation needs of birds in Tanzania. During her lifetime, Liz trained and inspired countless Tanzanian researchers and wildlife lovers, many of whom are passionate scientists, conservationists, and politicians today.

Liz also made a monumental contribution to elephant conservation. In the 1980s, Liz and Neil worked with Tanzania's Director of Wildlife, Mr. Costa Mlay, and elephant scientists to develop Tanzania's seminal proposal to CITES to ban all international trade in elephant ivory. The proposal passed at the CITES conference in 1989, and the trade ban came into effect in 1990. This amazing effort led to the recovery of elephant populations in Africa for the next 15 years.

Liz (pictured here with her youngest daughter, Katie, doing aerial surveys of the Usangu wetlands) carried these and other achievements quietly and humbly. Despite having more specialist knowledge than most, she would always remind us how many questions remain unexplored, and how many delightful puzzles and mysteries the natural world still has to offer. She also welcomed everyone into her world, sharing her knowledge, enthusiasm, and enjoyment of nature. She taught us the names of birds, butterflies and trees, she taught us how to observe, and she showed us how much richer a human life is when lived in connection with the natural world.

We send our love and support to her family and friends who, like us, are missing a matriarch.

Bagamoyo: Chinese Firm set to Develop Sprawling Tanzania Tourist Town

Standing as the first town on the Tanzanian coast where early travelers anchored during their discovery missions and Christian religion expansion in Tanzania and Central Africa, Bagamoyo town is rising up again after a Chinese company set a mega-business project going in the area.

Bagamoyo town, which was established over 1,000 years ago by early Arab travelers to the Eastern African coast and later became a slave trade transit port, was the designated port for Tanzania during the early days of Arab and German administration in Tanzania.

Famous European missionaries and explorers to East Africa, including Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley, among others, kicked-off their trek to the African bush at Bagamoyo,, while the first Arabian settlers chose Bagamoyo as their official residence.

Germans administration chose Bagamoyo as their capital before moving to Dar es Salaam, the present business and commercial capital of Tanzania. Now, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Bagamoyo, 75 kilometers from Dar es Salaam, is set to be run by China Merchants Holdings International (CMHI).

Projects envisaged in the Special Economic Zone area include the development of industrial parks (US$120 million), establishment of tourism parks (US$70 million), free port facilities (US$90 million), a free trade zone (US$70 million), science and technological parks (US$50 million), an international business center (US$70 million), and construction of industrial sheds (US$20 million), CMHI management said.

The Managing Director of China Merchants Holdings International, Dr. Hu Jianhua, said the Bagamoyo project framework agreement was signed on March 24, 2013 to enhance the competitive advantages of the Tanzanian port in the future.

“The ongoing Bagamoyo port project, which is an expansion of CMHI’s overseas port, will never stop,” Dr. Jianhua said.

The Bagamoyo port and its affiliated industrial zone would not only do away with the conflict between old port congestion and new urban development, but would also support Tanzania to become an East African regional leading center for shipping, tourism, and logistics.

Tanzanian Minister for Industries and Trade Mr. Charles Mwijage told eTN that the Bagamoyo mega-business project was going smoothly.

The government had negotiated with prospective investors to compensate residents so as to pave a way for development of business projects, the port, and other economic ventures in the area, Mr. Mwijage said.

When completed, the Bagamoyo port will be capable of attracting and handling international tourist cruise ships.

He said 190 industries have been marked for development within the area to attract other business ventures, including tourist hotels and other tourism services.

The Framework Agreement in relation to this project was signed in Tanzania in 2013 and was witnessed by then Tanzanian President Kikwete and the Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping as part of the 1.28 trillion shillings infrastructure package deals.

The Bagamoyo project will be developed under tripartite agreement of the government of Tanzania, China Merchants Holdings International (CMHI) from China, and State Government Reserve Fund (SGRF) from Oman.

Under the signed tripartite agreement, the State Government Reserve Fund (SGRF) from Oman will provide funds to facilitate the Bagamoyo EPZA through CMHI which will be running the project.

CMHI said in its report that the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is part of its global investments. In Africa, the Chinese company had invested in Kenya, Ethiopia, Togo, Nigeria, and Djibouti.

The delegation from the Sultanate of Oman led by the Minister for Transport and Communication, Sheikh Abdullah Al Saadi, visited Tanzania 2 years ago to witness the laying down of the foundation stone for the SEZ project which occupies 9,800 hectares.

Bagamoyo town was once a most important trading port along the East African Coast and a German East Africa capital. Bagamoyo is home to different cultures including people of Arab descent who coexist in Bagamoyo making the town a peaceful and friendly place for visitors from all over the world.

The town of Bagamoyo was one of the most important trading ports on the East African coast and the penultimate stop of slave and ivory caravans traveling on foot from Lake Tanganyika on their way to Zanzibar.

Missionaries active in abolishing the slave trade made Bagamoyo, whose name means “Lay Down my Heart” in Kiswahili, was a center for early travelers and missionary activities in East and Central Africa.

Bagamoyo is a quiet village with a few German colonial buildings still standing. In the past, the town of Bagamoyo was one of the most important trading ports on the entire East African coast.

The old port was the stop of slave and ivory caravans that traveled on foot all the way from the rest of East and Central Africa. Once the caravans reached Bagamoyo, the slaves and ivory were shipped by dhows to Zanzibar, where they were then dispatched all over the world.

Bagamoyo town is surrounded by old buildings of the previous generation, and beautiful Arab architecture with thick walls of earth fitted with well-carved doors made of thick African hardwood.

Discovery of the Origin of Man: Olduvai Gorge Museum Tanzania open for Visitors

Olduvai Gorge Museum, the biggest natural history and scientific research facility in East Africa is set for an official opening this weekend by the Tanzania’s Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The grand opening of the Museum which is rightly located at the excavation site of Olduvai Gorge and near Laetoli Footprints will open up a new chapter of the milestone discovery of the evidence of the first humans in the world.

Olduvai Gorge is a site in Tanzania that holds the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors. Paleoanthropologists have found hundreds of fossilized bones and stone tools in the area dating back millions of years, leading them to conclude that humans evolved in Africa.

The excavation site is located in the Great Rift Valley, between the Ngorongoro Crater and the famous Serengeti National Parks. The gorge was formed about 30,000 years ago by aggressive geological activity and streams which erupted through volcanic activity.

Dr. Louis Leakey and his wife Mary are known as the first family of paleontology in East Africa after making a great achievement in a discovery of the skull of the first human being at Olduvai Gorge in 1959, almost 60 years today.

Louis was born in Kenya, where his English parents were missionaries. He would often uncover prehistoric stone tools while he was out for bird watching. After graduating from University in England, he joined a fossil-finding expedition in Tanzania, which sparked his interest in human origins.

Extensive digging at the Olduvai Gorge revealed what was then the earliest known living floor of the primitive man.

Discovery of the origin of man at Olduvai Gorge was accidentally made by a German butterfly collector, Professor Kattwinke in 1911 when found a number of fossil bones of the extinct three-toed horse, Hipparion, which he took back with him to Berlin in Germany.

Professor Kattwinke aroused great interest in Germany and later inspired Professor Hans Reck in 1923 to make an expedition to Olduvai Gorge where he stayed in the site for three months and collected a great number of important fossil remains, but failed to recognize any tools of early man.

Dr. Louis Leakey had seen the collections from Olduvai Gorge in the Berlin Museum. In 1931, after the World War 1, Leakey organized an expedition to the Gorge and invited professor Reck to be a member of the party.

The history of human origin was written after Mary Leakey discovered the skull of the early man at the Olduvai Gorge in 1959 while searching for fossils washed out on the slopes of the deposits.

Mary stumbled on a small part of the bone behind the ear which had been partly exposed by erosion. She discovered the skull of a hominid that was crashed and broken into hundreds of fragments, which it has been possible to reassemble into an almost complete skull of the earliest man on earth, dated over 1.75 million years ago.

Extensive digging at the Olduvai Gorge revealed what was then the earliest known living floor of the primitive man. Mary later discovered the Laetoli footprints that were more than 3.75 million years old.

Today, the Olduvai Gorge is a place of early history of man and which attracts thousands of visitors each year to see the origin of our ancestors who lived over 1.75 million years ago.

“We are naturally proud that Tanzania was the site of this significant discovery,” once said Dr. Freddy Manongi, the Chief Conservator for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where excavations are still taking place.

Tourists, academicians, researchers, students and primary school children from around the world  pay several visits to the excavation site at Olduvai Gorge, the actual place of the discovery of the remains of the early man.

Discovery of the origin of man at Olduvai Gorge, the large numbers of wildlife in the Ngorongoro Crater and the presence of Maasai cattle herders have all, made Ngorongoro best known as the “Last Garden of Eden” and the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Natural history scientists believe that the earliest man had a brain about 40 percent the size of modern man, were much more muscular, and measured about four to four-and-a-half feet tall. They may have primarily lived in wooded areas, eating grubs, meat, and plants.

Visiting Olduvai Gorge is such a lifetime moment where you can see, experience and touch the ground where genetic and fossil evidence of archaic Homo sapiens evolved to anatomically modern humans solely in Africa.

Olduvai Gorge also remains the national and international icon of human origin studies and has been declared by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage site.

The excellent condition of the skull allowed scientists to date the beginnings of mankind to about two million years ago and to verify that human evolution began not in Asia, as previously thought, but in Africa. In keeping with the significance of this information, Olduvai Gorge is now known as “The Cradle of Mankind.”

At Laetoli, west of Ngorongoro Crater, hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 million years old and represent some of the earliest signs of mankind in the world.

Three separate tracks of a small-brained upright walking early hominid, the Australopithecus afarensis, with a height of about 1.2 to 1.4 meters high, were found. Imprints of these are displayed in the Olduvai Gorge museum.

More advanced descendants of Laetoli’s hominids were found further north, buried in the layers of the 100 meters deep gorge.

Louis and Mary Leakey further discovered through their excavations, four different kinds of hominid, showing a gradual increases in brain size and in the complexity of their stone tools.

The first skull of Zinjanthropus, commonly known as ‘Nutcracker Man’ who lived about 1.75 million years ago, was found here. The most important findings in Leakeys’ milestone discovery of the origin of man are Homo habilis, Zinjathropus and the Laetoli footprints.

Leakeys had discovered several extinct vertebrates, including the 25 million-year old proconsul primate, one of the first and few fossil ape skulls ever found in the world.

Archaeological expedition and discoveries made by Dr. Leakey and his wife Mary in Tanzania had changed the knowledge of the evolution of mankind and the entire history of the origin of man.