Ngorongoro Conservation Area
In July 2019, the Olduvai Gorge Monument was erected at the turnoff to Olduvai Gorge from the road which connects Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park (a route traveled by safari-goers). The monument was designed and planned by paleoanthropologists Nicholas Toth, Kathy Schick, and Jackson Njau at the invitation of the Tanzanian government in order to celebrate this important site and to attract visitors to the gorge and its new museum. The monument consists of two large-scale models of fossil skulls which sit atop a large pedestal with an informative plaque mounted on the side of the pedestal. The fossil skulls depicted are "Paranthropus boisei" and "Homo habilis", two contemporary species which were first discovered at Olduvai Gorge. Schick, Toth, Njau and Joshua Mwankunda (NCAA Cultural Heritage Manager) commissioned the celebrated Tanzanian artist Festo Kijo to create the two large concrete skulls which he modeled using life-size fossil casts provided by the researchers. The large-scale models created by Kijo are each 6 feet tall and weigh 5,000 pounds. The monument project was funded by the Stone Age Institute and the John Templeton Foundation, in partnership with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA).