Olduvai Gorge is in the north-western part of Tanzania within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where one of the world's most important archaeological finds have been made. In 1957 Mary and Louis Leakey found evidence of the 1,8 million year old Nutcracker Man Australopithecus - or Zinjanthropus - Boisei, in 1979 they found the 3,7 million year old footsteps of Australopithecus Afarensis, and Handy Man, Homo Habilis.

The name Olduvai came from early European miss-spelling of "Oldupai", the Maasai name for wilde sisal plants (Sansevieria ehrenbergiana) that grow in the area.

The Maasai are semi-nomadic pastoralists people. They are of Nilo-Hamitic origin and all Maasai tribes share the Maa language. They have been proposed as the "Lost Tribe of Israel" because of their history. It is thought that the Maasai left their home in the Nile valley around the 15th or 16th century, reaching the Great Rift Valley and down into Tanzania between the 17th and late 18th century.