The Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan will next week inaugurate the Oldupai Gorge Museum that is said to hold the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors.

 Makamu wa Rais Samia Hassan Suluhu

Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Prof Jumanne Maghembe revealed that the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) and the European Union had finalized the construction of the Sh1.8 state of the art museum and that they were only waiting for the VP to open the much touted museum, whose construction started in 2013.

According to Prof Maghembe, the museum will cap the myriads of attractions that Tanzania had on resources for tourism revenue, promotion of science education, research and employment opportunities.

“After four years of ground work, we finally have the museum which will be inaugurated by the vice president on October 3 this year,” disclosed the minister.

Detailing on the museum, the minister said it was a result of thorough research in Oldupai and Laetoli areas that hosted the Australopithecus, an extinct genus of hominins some 3.6million years ago.

He described Oldupai and Laetoli as two most important places when tracing the genesis of mankind.

According to the minister, the state of art museum will among other things house artifacts that were initially collected at the two places but preserved at the Dar es Salaam Museum.

“Once it comes to life, the museum will exhibit the early stone ages that the early man passed through…whilst the culture of the Datoga, Hadzabe and the Maasais found within the NCA will also be put on display,” he said.

The minister added that museum; the only site in the world that depicts the history of man will boost the country’s tourism prospects, if the ITB (Internationale Tourismus Börse) Travel Trade Show held in Berlin, in March this year was anything to go by.

According to the minister, 60 per cent of tourists that flock the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) every year also prefer visiting the Laetoli footprints and the Oldupai Gorge.

The construction of the museum adds to the list of historical sites found in the country which also include the Museum in Dar, Kalenga and the Mwalimu Nyerere mausoleums, Majimaji War Museum and the Bujora Museum in Mwanza.

In 1978, Dr Mary Leakey discovered hominin fossils that were more than 3.75 million years at Laetoli area.

She is also remembered for having discovered the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

By Edward Qorro