I’ve referred to my stint with the second group as ground hog day as I’ve tried to make the experience for all the residents as much the same as possible. We travel to Ngorongoro Crater with each group, visit Daniel Tewa, Phillipo’s coffee farm, Gibb’s Farm, mobile clinics (though they are to different sites), and now the Serengeti for three days and two nights. We had been out at Gibb’s Farm for dinner last night and arrived home a bit late as we had gotten there late, so the residents would be making our lunch in the morning. We wouldn’t have to leave at the crack of dawn since we’d be traveling to Oldupai Gorge first and not arriving to the Serengeti until later in the day.
It had been raining overnight and continued into the morning as we departed for the Loduare Gate once again, but this time, we’d be traveling around the crater rim and descending onto the part of the Serengeti plain that lies in the conservation area before crossing over into the park proper. But first, we would visit Oldupai Gorge, the cradle of humanity, and the single most famous archeological site in the world. The gorge was first identified by a westerner when a German neurologist, who had been researching trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, stumbled upon it in 1913, though unfortunately misspelled the name as “Olduvai” rather than the correct “Oldupai,” the Maasai name for the common sissle plant that exists everywhere in this region.
Luis Leakey arrived in 1931 after learning about the fossils that existed here, and his wife, Mary, joined him just several years after that. They continued to search for human fossils until in 1959, Mary Leakey finally found Zinjanthropus (Nutcracker Man named after his huge molars) which is now considered to represent Paranthropus boisei. What is unique about Oldupai, though, is the fact that multiple ancestors of Homo sapiens were found here at the same levels indicating that they coexisted. This was true of Paranthropus and Homo habilis, though later fossils of Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens were also found in nearby layers.
Oldupai Gorge has always had a special meaning for me since childhood as I followed the exploits of Luis Leakey prior to early death in 1971, and then Mary, as she continued their work at the gorge and the surrounding region. As an undergraduate, I took as many courses as I could in both physical anthropology and classical archeology and was fortunate enough to have participated in a professional seminar in 1977 that was led by Luis’s son, Richard, David Pilbeam, and Donald Johanson, who had just discovered Lucy (3.6 million years old) only several years earlier. It was in 1976 that Mary Leakey discovered her famous footprints in Laetoli that were dated at 3.7 million years and were formed by a group of bipedal australopithecines traveling together as a group. It was upon that background, that in 2009, I insisted that we visit Oldupai Gorge on my very first safari, and I have returned every year since as if it were a pilgrimage to Mecca.
It was in 2017, though, after the completion of the new museum, that I first met Professor Masaki, and we have been friends ever since. He brought me to the Leakey camp well before it was open to the public, and we rummaged through the buildings that contained original animal fossils (the hominin fossils had been long removed). He pulled a several million-year-old mammoth tusk off the shelf to show to me as I nearly fainted out of concern that he would drop it. Masaki has continued to meet me with my groups of residents as we visit this site and gives a short lecture each time on the history and the importance of the gorge in our understanding of human evolution.
After spending time in the museum, we descended into the gorge and across the river at the bottom, now with water from the recent rains in the Endulen highlands around the crater rim. We traveled to Shifting Sands, a large mound of magnetized black sand that was ejected from Ol Doinyo Lengai, the only remaining active volcano in this highly volcanic region, some 3000 years ago. Ol Doinyo Lengai, which means “Mountain of God” in Maa (the language of the Maasai) is sacred to them, as is Shifting Sands. The sand remains together because of its magnetic nature and is constantly being blown in one direction across the plains about 15-20 meters a year.
After leaving Shifting Sands, we drove across the plain on a very small road (really just two tire tracks through the sand), bypassing the heavily trafficked main road, until crossing over into Serengeti National Park. It was another 20 minutes or so to reach Naabi Hill where the entrance gate is into the park and where we would finally eat our lunch, just a bit later than expected.
Once in the park, we began our game drive, looking for whatever wildlife we could spot. It was not long before we found lions, but the massive wildebeest herds that were here just three weeks ago had moved on further north and we would search for them tomorrow. There were small groups of wildebeest, but nothing coming close to the body of the migration that would number in the hundreds of thousands. It had been raining in the Serengeti, and the roads, though passable, were very wet in places, and especially once we veered off of the main road in the direction of our camp. As we reached the woodlands on our way, the road became very muddy, so much so that there were large muddy areas that had to be bypassed by following prior tracks into the grass at times. It is times such as this that you’re grateful that you’re in a Land Rover for they are built for these occasions and will see you safely through any conditions.
We finally arrive to camp as the skies were darkening and, just after all of our bags and camera equipment was safely under the canvas of the tents, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour began. We had hoped to get to our tents and shower before dinner, but the rain delayed us by about thirty minutes or so. It finally let up, allowing us to get to our tents which were beautiful, and we were all able to clean up before finally sitting down to dinner. Tomorrow, we were getting up before dawn and meeting for coffee as we would have our breakfast and lunch packed for us to eat on the trail. There was an air of excitement as tomorrow we would be looking for cats and the migration.
