National Natural History Museum

Established in 1987, the National Natural History Museum in Arusha displays specimens from paleontological, archaeological, and paleoanthropological studies, including those from Olduvai Gorge.

Planning your visit

Arusha's Natural History Museum occupies the old German boma, a fortified colonial administrative building from the 1890s, and its collections centre on human origins — appropriately, since northern Tanzania is one of the most important regions on earth for palaeoanthropology.

Olduvai Gorge, a few hours west, produced the discoveries by Louis and Mary Leakey that transformed understanding of human evolution, and Laetoli nearby preserved the 3.6-million-year-old hominin footprints walked into volcanic ash. The museum displays material and casts from these sites, tracing the evolutionary sequence.

Additional sections cover the region's natural history — insects, birds and mammals — and the colonial history of Arusha itself.

The museum is modest and the presentation dated, but the subject matter is fundamental, and Arusha is where nearly every northern-circuit safari begins, which makes this a useful first stop before Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.

Bookable options include entry tickets with guided tours. Current availability is shown below.