A new museum will open at the Olduvai Gorge in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), Tanzania, on October 3.

NCA, Public Relations Manager, Joyce Mgaya, said the new museum was much bigger than the old museum and would accommodate more visitors.

She said the museum was part of an upgrade to facilities in the hominid sites at Olduvai Gorge in a bid to attract more international visitors to the area.

“Apart from the new museum development, the project includes the Laetoli footprints and a geopark.” Laetoli, which is 60km from Olduvai, is home to four-million-year-old footprints of human ancestors.

Olduvai is also an iconic site for the study of human origins and is where the 1.7-million-year-old skull of Australopithecus boisei, the ‘modern man’, was found in 1959.

Both sites were discovered by Dr Mary and Louis Leakey, transforming the remote landscapes west of the Ngorongoro highlands into world-famous places showing the evolution of early man and consequently attracting tourists.

Last month, Tanzania’s Chief Conservator, Freddy Manongi, said the historic and hominid sites had boosted revenue collection following a rise in visitors.