Tanzania Journal Day 10:Olduvai Gorge

Exposed monolith formation in Olduvai Gorge

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Running Log, 1/2/11 -- Rest

On the morning of January 2nd, 2011, I woke up early. I had slept well, enjoying the relative luxury of our spacious tent -- a tent that felt more like a small apartment complete with a real bed, a toilet, and even a makeshift shower. Outside, it was still fairly cool, as the sun was just rising above the horizon. I could smell the smoke from charcoal fires as I walked the hundred yards to the main tent to read a little, and spend some more time with my Swahili book.

We had stayed the night at a tented camp near Lake Ndutu, an alkaline lake in the Southern Serengeti. Unlike the busy campground where we had spent New Year's Eve, this place was fairly quiet. The camp consisted of twelve large canvas tents for the guests, a larger open air tent for the dining area, and miscellaneous structures for the staff.

Lake Ndutu itself was a bit of a mystery to me. I don't remember seeing it, or if I did, I mistook it for something else. Instead, I remember only muddy tributaries surrounded by low scrub forest and a network of twisting dirt roads. When we drove on these roads in the Land Rover, we raised great clouds of dust that hung in the air long after we passed, and I could never tell whether we were leaving or heading deeper into the forest.

Our plan for the day was to spend the morning on a game drive around Lake Ndutu, then head east to the famous archaeological site at Olduvai Gorge, and finally drive up into the Ngorongoro Highlands where we would stop at a campground and pitch our tents on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater.

On this morning, I didn't attempt a run. After 372 consecutive days of running at strange hours and in strange places, I had arrived at the long planned-for day off. So no claustrophobic circuits of the campground today.

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I don't remember too much of our morning game drive. I remember the dust, and I remember that we got a flat tire at one point (it was expertly fixed with no loss of life). Peter took a couple of pictures of a mother leopard and three leopard cubs that I think came from that morning. Mostly I remember the thickets of low trees and bush, and how all the colors blended together, making it hard to spot the animals.




When we finally left the Lake Ndutu region in the late morning, we came out into open plains that seemed especially vast and empty. We were headed East now, driving toward the Southern "Gate" of the Serengeti at Nabai Hill, a massive and unexpected hill rising up out of the flat grasslands.

There was a park station at Nabai Hill, which meant a stop where Rob had to present the permits that would enable us to continue on our way. During the short delay, we climbed up to one of the highest points on the hill and took in the impressive views of endless plains in every direction.

I no longer remember exactly where Peter took the picture of ostriches, below, but it shows the openness of that part of the journey, and a distant rock formation that might or might not be Nabai Hill.

Olduvai / Oldupai

In the early afternoon, we arrived at Olduvai Gorge, one of the most famous and important archaeological sites in the world.

In the 1930's, Louis and Mary Leakey began archaeological excavations in the gorge that would continue for decades and would ultimately change our assumptions about the origins of mankind. The Leakeys discovered tools of different ages, some dating back 1.7 to 1.9 million years. At the time they began their work, there was no consensus about when and where humans had emerged. Many archaeologists were skeptical of the theory that the first humans had come from Africa. The Leakeys' work provided extensive evidence for that this area in the Rift Valley was "The Cradle of Mankind," as it came to be known.

In truth, it was hard to imagine this dry ravine as a fertile land that could sustain life, an area where homo habilis had left footsteps in the volcanic ash. Standing on the edge of the gorge and looking out, there was nothing much to see. Perhaps down in the gorge where the excavation sites were it would be different, but that area was off-limits. Instead, we had to content ourselves with wandering through a small, rude museum that contained artifacts from the excavations, explanations of the work done there, and historical photos of archaeologists and various government officials in stiff poses.

We learned that the name "Olduvai" is a mispronunciation of "Oldupai," which is the local word for the sisal plant that grows in and around the gorge. The world knows the place as "Olduvai" but we were encouraged to begin using the correct pronunciation and spelling.


Peter in front of OlduPAI Gorge

I should also mention, although it seems hardly worth the space, that while we were in the museum, the box lunches that our crew had prepared for us went missing. Every morning, Henry would pack simple but ample lunches consisting of crepes, hard-boiled eggs, bananas, muffins, chocolate bars, and juice boxes. Every day we would have these, and we would never be able to eat all the food. At Olduvai, Rob had put the stack of white boxes on benches that overlooked the gorge. When we came out of the museum, they were gone.

No big deal, we thought. We had plenty of crackers and trail mix in the Land Rover, and would be completely fine until dinner. But Rob was extremely upset, and was insisting that he had to make this up to us by stopping somewhere else and getting lunch. It actually got a little tense, as we tried to convince ROb that it was ok, and Rob continued to insist that it wasn't and that he needed to make this right. In the end, Peter, Rob, and I held a council and negotiated. Peter and I were firm that we did not want to delay our trip to get lunch elsewhere, but we would gladly let Rob buy us all soft drinks at the museum, and we all agreed that we should ask Henry to prepare an early dinner at the campsite. Crisis averted, we left the Gorge and drove on towards the distant Highlands.

NEXT: The Rim of the Crater