What Is Leakey Journeys?

Leakey Journeys and Expeditions (LJE) is a paleoanthropology organization founded by Louise Leakey, a third-generation Kenyan paleoanthropologist. It works to deepen understanding of humanity's origins through fossil research, educational outreach, and journeys through time in East Africa's Turkana Basin. If you want to follow active human-origins fieldwork, browse six decades of discovery archives, or watch fossil preparation as it happens, this site is built around those purposes.

What the Organization Does

LJE describes its mission as exploring the past and inspiring the future, with the belief that understanding our shared past supports better stewardship of our common future. Its work centers on the Turkana Basin, where millions of years of evolutionary history are preserved. The team focuses on exploration, discovery, and recovery of irreplaceable fossils — a time-sensitive task, since naturally exposed fossils can disintegrate through erosion.

The site also shares stories of discovery, lectures, field chronicles, and archival images, so the public-facing side goes beyond research alone.

Key Numbers at a Glance

These figures give a sense of scale: this is a long-running field program, not a single dig or a museum exhibit.

What You Can Explore on the Site

• Fossil Cam — a live camera positioned at a fossil being prepared in the lab or at an excavation, offering a small window into the workday.
• From the Archives — photographs, field notes, fossil records, and stories spanning six decades, including images such as Kamoya Kimeu and Richard Leakey in 1972 and a camel expedition to Ileret in 1969.
• Video Library — footage of the team uncovering history at Lake Turkana and exploring ancient fossil sites.
• Latest Updates and Blog — expedition reports and discoveries, such as the announcement of new hand and foot fossils of Paranthropus boisei, a distant human cousin, which the project says significantly extends understanding of tool use and bipedality in the human family tree.
• Significant hominins — a section highlighting notable finds.

Who It's For

• Students and curious readers who want an accessible entry point into paleoanthropology and human origins.
• Educators looking for field stories, archival material, and video to bring evolution and fieldwork to life.
• Followers of the Koobi Fora Research Project, whose work and archive are featured on the site.
• Prospective expedition participants — the organization's name and mission reference "journeys," though specific trip details, dates, and costs are not stated in the available material, so check the site directly before planning.

How to Start

1. Open leakeyjourneys.org and read the mission section for context on the Turkana Basin and the organization's purpose.
2. Visit Fossil Cam if you want a real-time look at lab or excavation work; note that what you see depends on where the camera is positioned that day.
3. Browse From the Archives for historical photographs and field records, or the Video Library for fieldwork footage.
4. Check Our Latest Updates and the blog for current discoveries and expedition reports.

A practical expectation to set: the live cam and archives are windows into ongoing work, not on-demand content, so what's available changes with the field season and lab schedule.