Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘oldupai’

Africa’s Great Rift Called – and I Answered

Posted in African Safari, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

Museum sign

 “We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it’s not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it’s how we interpret those events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in the future.” Anthony Robbins

The monolith in Oldupai Gorge, the view behind the young man who told us the story of the landscape here. -- Photo by Pat Bean

African Safari: A Place of Beginnings

Places call to me. Africa called twice. The second call was for the wildlife safari adventure Kim and I enjoyed for two weeks in 2007, which also answered the first call.

I had long had a desire to see Africa’s Great Rift, where human life is thought to have begun. I had read much about the anthropology discoveries of Mary and Louis Leaky in Oldupai (also called Olduvai) Gorge in Tanzania, and wanted to see this place for myself.

The rift, a continuous geographic trench, stretches across Africa for over 3,000 miles, but the section in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater is where the most important discoveries about our human beginnings have been made.

It was why, of the many safari choices offered of Africa, I had chosen the one that brought us to Tanzania.

And now I was here, looking out over the spot where in 1975 Mary Leakey had discovered a series of footprints showing our pre-human ancestors walking upright over 2 million years ago. .

Kim standing in front of some non-human remains found in Oldupai Gorge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I even got to see a replica of these footprints in the small Leaky Oldupai Museum – after listening to a young man, whom I assumed was an anthropology student, explain the wonders found in this landscape.

I could hardly understand his heavily accented English, but it was accompanied by a theatrical performance that filled in the details of the words I missed. It was one of the most unusual, and delightful, lectures I ever sat through.

It was given on a high overlook of the gorge, beneath a thatched shelter for shade, looking out at

landscape that once was a lake. The lake was covered by a succession of volcanic ash; then, about a half million years ago, seismic activity diverted a stream that cut down into the sediments, revealing seven layers of the past. In doing so, it created an awesome research lab for the Leakeys and other anthropologists.

The site was used as the first monolith in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” And the small Oldupai Museum here reminded me of those one used to find, and occasionally still does, while traveling across America on Route 66.

It’s both strange and wonderful how all of life seems to connect.

Read Full Post »

Armed Guard Walk to Top of Ngorongoro Crater

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on March 20, 2011| 5 Comments »

 
 

Inside the Ngorongoro Crater -- Photo by William Warby

 “I dream of hiking into my old age.” — Marlyn Doan

Favorite Hikes:

The two weeks I spent in Tanzania and Kenya in 2007 were mostly spent in a Land Rover, bouncing across the landscape in search of exotic animals and birds, or at a guarded or fenced lodge where the wild animals were kept at bay.

Walking through the bush, at least on the tour my friend Kim and I took, was strictly forbidden. Since we spent a lot of time looking at lions, leopards, cheetahs, cape buffalo and elephants, we didn’t complain too much.

 One hike, however, was included in our itinerary. A hike to the top of a ridge in the Gnorongoro Crater. The 100-square-mile depression was formed a couple of million years ago when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed. It’s in this crater, in Oldupai Gorge, where the oldest human fossils have been found. The crater is also the location used for the first monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

This cape buffalo dude looks like he has the same "I'm-bad-tail-up-strut-attitude of my dog, Maggie, after she's growled at a dog six times her size. Photo by Pat Bean

Our native guide, Bilal, who drove us two single ladies through Tanzania for a week, tried to dissuade us from going on the hike. He said African buffalos, responsible for over 200 deaths annually, were in the area.

But at our insistence, he released us into the care of an armed guide for the trek up to the ridge top. Bilal was allowed nothing more than a large stick as protection from animals in the national parks we visited and also was required to stay with his vehicle.

The hike started out with us swishing through long grass that had me worrying more about snakes than wild buffalo. It soon gave, however, to a steep forested landscape. I remember some thick-trunk large trees as we neared the top of the ridge, where we had an aerial view of the Olmorti Crater below.

It felt really good to be hiking.  The trek, except for the dramatic African landscape we walked through, was quite uneventful. We didn’t catch sight of a buffalo until we were safely back in the Land Rover with Bilal, who visible breathed a sign of relief once we were back under his care.

Read Full Post »