Some old tools and fossils
The cast of the footprints.
The surrounding area near the Gorge
Oldupai Gorge
Oldupai Gorge, more commonly known as Olduvai Gorge (Due to
a misinterpretation of a local Maasai word for the Seizle plant by the German
entomologist who named it) and was one
of the first stops on our Safari. On the edge of the Serengeti, Oldupai and the
Laetoli archaeological site which is the place where the Mary Leakey found
the footprints of Australopithecus
afarensis. Australopithecus afarensis
was a small-brained upright walking hominid creature that was alive 3.6 million
years ago and the same species as the famous ‘Lucy’ skeleton found in Ethiopia.
These creatures didn’t use tools, and were only about a meter and a half high. Mary
and Louis Leakey are also credited with finding that 4 other types of hominids
in the area as well. They confirmed that the area was inhabited
by Homo habilis about 1.9 million years ago, Parathropus boisei 1.8 million
years ago, Homo erectus 1.2 million years ago, and Homo sapiens 17,000 years
ago. The Leakey’s spent 28 years of their life in the area and their old
campsite is now used today as a research center. There is also a museum, with
detailed exhibits giving all the information, fossils of animals, partial skulls,
tools, and a cast of the footprints Mary found. Outside the museum there is a
covered area where you can look down into the gorge and get a short lecture
from a guide. Oldupai is located in the Eastern Serengeti, west of the Ngorongoro
crater, in the Great Rift Valley. ( Side note: Every time I heard Great Rift Valley all I could think of was the Land Before Time and all of the dinosaurs looking
for the Great Valley if you don’t know what I am talking about you may not have
had a proper childhood.)
It was an amazing place to be and I wish we
had more time to really take it all in. As we listened to the guide we could
hear the roar of thunder coming in. I could hear the wind passing through the
canyon and it began to softly rain. It was amazing, to be in a place where
people, and pre-people like creatures walked, lived, hunted, ran away from lava…
(Haha, I made myself laugh when I imagined that…Now you’re probably laughing
too, or you’re not and you think my sense of humor is weird… Which it is, oh
well…Anyways…) It was almost surreal, actually, no it was surreal and I found
myself zoning out and just listening to the weather and wondering what it might
have been like for those so long ago who walked there. I wondered how different
it looked, or how similar. In English I really don’t have the words to describe
how I felt, and I certainly don’t have them in Kiswahili… But it was amazing;
it was like the realization that human kind is much bigger, and more complex
and somehow more connected than I ever really understood before. I really
wished we had more time than the 5 minutes of quiet post-presentation to just
take it in. I hope to someday come back here and if I can hike through the
canyon, and do more research so I can really appreciate it more. Ha, I guess
this is just another reason I need to come back. :P
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