kearneyjourney

We got up at 08:00 and had a rather pitiful breakfast in the restaurant: as we were late, there was not much on offer; and I had to ask our favorite waiter, Expedito, to bring us some bananas to round out the meager fare. We then checked out and proceeded to put together our box lunch for the day’s trip. Ray met us at the entrance to the Ngorongoro Farmhouse; and true to our usual rhythm, we were fifteen minutes late.

We drove up toward the main gate of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and stopped to register. Ray was always careful to point out restroom opportunities and urged us to take advantage of them when they presented themselves. Unfortunately, the water main in the restrooms was broken, and all the toilets and sinks were dry. I discovered this too late and had a thick film of soap on my hands, but no water to wash it off. A half bottle of drinking water was sacrificed to get the worst off my hands; and the rest just had to be rubbed off as we progressed up the mountain. This was also the last time we would see paved roads for six days. Once we entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we were on dirt roads from there to the town of Mugumu and back. These roads are sometimes so bumpy that the locals refer to the ride as a “free African massage”. What I clearly underestimated when planning the trip was 1) the poor road conditions and 2) the distances, which are exacerbated by the poor road conditions. On the map, some of the destinations appeared to be “right around the corner”; but they were most decidedly not. From the Arumeru Lodge to the Ngorongoro Farmhouse, we drove four hours in total. On the map, it looked like a ninety minute drive – and this was on paved roads. On some of the dirt roads, we couldn’t drive faster than 50 kmh.

The forests on the south side of the Ngorongoro crater were tall and lush – the perfect place for baboons to live and forage. We passed several active troops on the way up to the top. On the rim, there is a beautiful overview point that allows you to take in the entire crater. We could see animals and other safari vehicles moving across the floor of the crater. The sight is truly stunning, as one imagines how large the mountain must have been before collapsing to what the caldera now is. We drove around the west side of the crater and spotted our first and only water bucks, which are a shaggy kind of antelope with white posteriors and a unique defense mechanism against predators. According to Ray, the water buck secretes a noxious poison into its own body when attacked by a predator, rendering its meat unpalatable. Accordingly, they are off the menu for all but the most desperate of predators; and any human desiring to taste their flesh must slay them before they sense any danger, otherwise it is ruined by the hormonal poison secreted upon attack.

We then left the crater rim and drove down toward the Ndutu region. Along the way, we spotted numerous Maasai herdsmen with their livestock; and a number of the children rushed to the road to greet us and motion with their hands that we should stop and give them something (food, a pen, anything).

At one point, I spotted three young Maasai men sitting by the side of the road with their faces painted black and white. Fascinated, I asked Ray to stop and find out what this was all about. But Ray just kept on driving and said it was a scam. Maasai men go through a ritual circumcision during their adolescence; and part of the ceremony includes the black and white face painting. Since this has proven to be a magnet for tourists, the young men paint their faces every day and sit by the side of the road offering themselves as photo-ops for passing tourists. Of course, the young models exact tribute for their services and the pain they have had to endure in the ritual circumcision. Indeed, it must hurt to be circumcised every day. When we passed back along that road four days later, there they were again waiting for unsuspecting tourists to stop.

We proceeded northeast to Olduvai Gorge — or rather, Oldupai Gorge, the real name of the place after the Maasai word for sisal: Olduvai Gorge Wiki

I have always wanted to visit this site, as it has played such a key role in paleoanthropological studies. To make sure our visit would not end up being only a facile 20-minute lecture about the Leakeys and the site, I asked Access2Tanzania to organize a three-hour guided tour of the gorge. Though somewhat skeptical at first when our guide, Ikayo, greeted us and began to lead us toward the rim of the gorge, I very quickly concluded that he knew his subject matter and the gorge very well.

He first related the story about the “Olduvai” misnomer, how a German lepidopterologist misunderstood the Maasai tribesmen when passing through the area and turned Oldupai into Olduvai. He then explained how the gorge was essentially divided into three sedimentary levels, one at the bottom with basalt deposits that were around 2.5m years old, a second in the middle part that was about 1-1.2m years old, and finally the upper sediments that covered the last half million years, but yielded no significant fossils due to the corrosive iron content in the soil. We visited each of the significant sites where the Leakeys found their fossils; and along the way, we found some animal fossils lying on the open ground, clearly discarded by the paleoanthropologists who had been working through the gorge and had been looking for something else.

Ikayo also found a shard of stone that had been a hand axe used by homo erectus 1.0-1.2m years ago. The timescales here are so astounding: he could state with some accuracy that the hand axe had been used during a two hundred thousand year span owing to the layer of sediments he had found it in. This is twenty times the length of recorded human history (dating from the dawn of agriculture 10,000 years ago). Homo erectus technology remained stagnant for almost a million years, up to the time when hominids first began using fire around 500 thousand years ago. Finally, Ikayo showed us the site where Mary Leakey found Australopithecus Boisei (or Zinjanthropus Boisei) in 1959, the first clear fossil proof of a hominid species somewhere between modern man and the common ancestor with chimpanzees around 5-6 million years ago. He also told us that he had been present when, last year, Richard Leakey returned for the fifty year anniversary of his parents’ ground-breaking find.

We then went further down into the valley and had lunch under a tree near a small brook. A couple of Maasai herdsmen approached us, but did not try to get a handout nor ask us to take their picture and pay them for their pains. There was some lightning and thunder moving towards us from the south; and when the first drops started to fall, we all piled into the car and drove back up to the museum. We spent about thirty minutes there, but merely got a less thorough repeat of the information Ikayo had already given us. In the museum, there is a replica of the Laetoli footprints 40km south of the Oldupai site. These were the first proof of bipedal locomotion among our hominid forebears and constituted another major breakthrough for the Leakeys. To prevent erosion, the tracks have since been covered back up, so no direct viewing at the Laetoli site is possible. I have since learned that the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) and the Tanzanian government are contemplating a way to reopen the footprints and make a permanent museum at the site. The challenge is to ensure that the footprints are protected from erosion.

After exiting the museum, I caught the last part of Ikayo’s lecture to the visitors; and yes, it was every bit the limited, superficial twenty minute spiel that I was afraid I would hear. I was very glad we had booked the guided tour of the gorge; otherwise, in my view, it’s hardly worth the side trip off the main road. At the end of his lecture, Ikayo addressed the crowd and said: “Since we all originate from Africa, it is my pleasure to welcome you all home.” The audience reacted little to this anecdote; and the session was over without a single question being posed.

We then drove back to the main road and headed toward the Ndutu region. Our next accommodation was a mobile tented camp, so Ray was not exactly sure where it would be. He had been informed that the Serengeti Savannah Tented Camp would be at Ndutu campsite 7, but we couldn’t find the campsite; so he opted to drive to a neighboring campsite (#10) and ask where #7 was. When we arrived and inquired about the Serengeti Savannah Camps, we were told that we were at the right place and were welcomed to our new home for two nights.

I was initially a bit skeptical, as the tents I saw upon our arrival looked nothing like the ones I had seen on the website. As we rounded the corner of the camp, however, I saw another set of tents that looked more like the units I had seen on-line. We were truly out in the middle of the bush: only a generator to provide electricity; only flashlights to light our paths to and from the tent to the main area; shower water only available upon demand.

Somehow, though, this was the coolest, most unique place we stayed in. In the two days we camped there, we had wildlife all over the campground, ranging from zebra to wildebeest to impala; and we even had the dangerous variety, as a number of buffalo decided to graze there on the first evening, a leopard passed through the perimeter of the camp, and the whooping cries of hyenas could be heard all around during the night. In the distance, we could also hear the roar of lions. The camp employees were very vigilant and escorted each guest to and from the tents to ensure we encountered no danger, though I am not sure what help these well-meaning, but unarmed protectors would have been in the event a leopard had really decided it was time for some human chow.

On our last evening, I was escorted back to the tent and zipped in by a Maasai employee of the camp, only to discover that I had forgotten to order my 06:45 shower for the next morning. With flashlight in hand, I walked the dark four hundred meters back to the campfire, all the time wondering what strange and dangerous beast I might confront on the way. The night before, Gertrude had exited the tent to get a dose of the brilliant stars in unpolluted skies; and when I went out to join her, she exclaimed: “Listen, there’s something eating over there.” I responded: “We might want to know what it is.” I retreated back into the tent, came out with a flashlight and shone it on the munching noise. The source: a big black buffalo staring back at us with no expression of amusement. We scurried into the tent and zipped the structure back up, but knew that it wouldn’t stand for a moment if the buffalo decided to charge. I lay in bed with an uneasy feeling as we heard it ripping up grass right in front of the tent. We were not sure how many were out there, but the kids one tent down heard the same grass-ripping noise; and Katie did not much enjoy it.

On the first evening, Ray joined us for dinner and related many stories about his childhood and youth. He was an excellent guide and really had all the best qualities you could expect from somebody in that position: friendly, knowledgeable, caring, funny, concerned, principled and hard-working. He always had our best interests in mind and really put himself out to ensure we were satisfied. Most importantly, we got to know a true Tanzanian during the ten days and learned about his life and his country. By the end of our trip, he had become a real friend.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.