[google1]
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Nicola, who is a founder and writer for Opulent Africa, a tour operator providing a luxury safari service for Africa.
The Olduvai Gorge in Northern Tanzania is an archaeologist’s dream location. The ancient site is one of the most famous locations in Eastern Africa with such finds as 3.6 million year old footprints of an ancient hominid tribe fossilised forever more into the rock. These small hominids walked upright and stood at just 1.2 metres high. A little further north hominids with slightly increased brain size have been found, along with more complex tools representing the very early stages of the development of mankind. A few months later the bones of Australopithecus Boise ‘Nutcracker Man’ were discovered providing a possible missing link between ancient primates and our species.
A modestly sized museum for these finds can be found at the gorge which sits between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti Plains outlining the perfect route for a family safari, with a little education thrown in along the way.
The Olduvai Gorge is often referred to as the Cradle of Mankind, and this romantic assignation can be felt throughout Eastern Africa. Bringing a family to Africa is the perfect way to ground children entering the teenagers, infuse them with a sense of life and give them perspective. For older families adventure also beckons. The Serengeti Plains offer the chance to set out with a guide, tracker and a mobile unit ahead of you and really feel what it is like to be truly under canvas but with the knowledge that at the end of a very hot, exciting and thrilling day, camp is already set up ahead of your arrival.
Spending a few days at the Ngorongoro Crater is unforgettable and often features in a well-structured luxury safari. The crater the largest intact caldera in the world and it commands stunning views from its rim down to the crater floor which offers excellent big five game viewing. Hiking through the Ngorongoro highlands is a popular activity as is visiting a coffee plantation. Additionally there are tribal village visits to enjoy where the locals will happily invite you in to their two roomed mud hut to show you the chimney less fire at which they cook and the dark mud walled room in which they sleep at night. School visits are sure to make your children appreciate their school facilities back home and the children in the local schools love to show you their command of English. There too are the local markets in which various trinkets and keepsakes can be purchased.
Often families will travel in large groups, of three generations or more, siblings, children, grandparents and friends all gathered in one unforgettable location, that is close to the heart and mind of us all, the inception of mankind.
Tanzania is an excellent location in which to base a first family safari, and the infrastructure and reliability of it is superb. Well-oiled processes of established tour operators will ensure that your family are safe and that your experience is unforgettable, so much so that once you have been once, it is usual to want to return time and again.
*Get the first glimpse of our new travel photos & posts! Subscribe by email and get new travel articles delivered straight to your inbox:
*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website, Nariko’ s Nest Weddings & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you do want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!
