Oldest human footprints....

About 15km from our village is one of the world's most unique historical sites, Laetoli Fossil Site. In 1976 Mary Leaky and her archeological team were at the site when they stumbled upon the oldest known human footprints (while throwing around Elephant dung). The footprints are 3.6 million years old. They are currently covered up to preserve the state, but within the next 2 years the government will be building a museum to properly showcase them. Below is the covered up footprints and a mold of what they look like.

Who's got a bigger foot???

Giraffes and my foot.....who woulda thunk it????

Test run

The pump was installed and the generator was tentatively hooked up. We gave her a test run and the first sign of water came gushing out!!!!! The first official bucket of water.

Earth Mats

Not a trench this time, but a grave site (or what felt like one) for an earth mat to be buried to act as a grounder for the generator. We buried a copper wire mat, again made from scratch (as all things in Edulen are). Graham and I took care of this one and could look at a new profession when we get back home - Grave digging that is. That's the generator shed in its final stages. And of course at the end of the day by the shed the monkeys always come by to say hello!!

Bushmen....myth or reality???

I had only heard of "Bushmen" in stories. Thought they were folklore. Many in the Maasai community think they still are folklore. Neither of our priests had seen them either.

But one Thursday afternoon we (and by "we" I mean 15 of my closest friends (Volunteers, Maasai, people just coming along for the ride) and I all cuddled together standing up in the back of a Ngorongoro Conservation Authority (NCA) Ranger's Land Cruiser as we accompanied him on his afternoon tour. So we shoot down the side of the mountain (and as are all thing in the NCA) it was a friggin' "bumpy bumpy" ride. We made a couple of stops along the way and then headed into the bush. Well, low and behold there they are. They speak their own dialect and are (by their own volition) separated from society. They live and breathe on their own and function as their own people. It was truly a remarkable thing to see. Usually bushmen walk around naked with cloth covering the necessary body parts, but these guys were all clothed when we came. The ranger knew the native tongue, so communicated for us. As we arrived they were making steel arrow tips for their arrows - as they hunt with either the bow and arrow or a spear. They were sharpening the steel with rocks. They will then poison the arrow tip to slow down the animal so it doesn't make it to far after its been shot. There was a fresh Zebra leg hanging from a tree as we walked by. One of the bows was actually made from Baboon Hair. They wanted to sell us some Bow and Arrows but it might have been a wee bit tough to get back home!! They then brought us to a large opening and let us all practice shooting!!! It was absolutely incredible - we were shooting bow and arrows in the middle of the forest with Bushmen. But believe me we were just happy they didn't line us all up :)

Next they showed us how to make fire from scratch with 2 sticks, a knife, and lots of dry grass. The funny part was the guy demonstrating was smoking weed from his home grown plant.

This was definitely like something out of a movie....the whole experience was unbelievable!!! Amazing can't even describe it :)

Laundry & Cows

While I was outside the "Zebra Lodge" doing laundry, I had some friends come by for a visit :)

Ok one more Safari ride...

The next day (Sunday) after the Crater we went for one more impromptu safari ride to see some more of the Wildebeest migration, however we got to see lots more!!! That's our friend Leo taking a little snooze :)

Ngorongoro Crater, Oldupai Gorge, Shifting Sands

This day started out at 6:30am jumping into 2 Land Cruisers and heading to the Ngorongoro Crater to do an actual tourist Safari. We drove around the rim of the Crater and then down into the thick of things! Our tour guide for the day was of course our very own Godfry, who is the Tourism Councillor for the Maasai People. He and his brother Isaya were with us almost everyday throughout our trip. There was everything imaginable in the Crater: Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos, Hippos, Hyenas, Buffalos (poor poor buffalo), Warthogs, Monkeys, Gazelles, Zebras, and of course LIONS!!!!! We not only saw one but 13 lions all huddled together for what looked like a town hall meeting......but they were feasting on a freshly hunted down Buffalo :( It was sad to see but still crazy to actually witness it.

The interesting thing about this was that as we were driving around and looking at all the animals, they all seemed desensitized to all the tourists and just went about grazing or mulling around. It kinda seemed like going to the zoo, but we were the ones in cages. It was completely different then our other impromptu safari rides, driving in the middle of nature and seeing the animals run away because they had never seen you or were just afraid, but more importantly just seeing how they truly live in their own habitat.

It was great to experience none the less and the lions & buffalo just shows we weren't in the middle of a zoo!!

Next on the ride was the Oldupai Gorge.
This is a famous landmark as there have been many many archeological discoveries that have happened here.


After that we drove over to the famous "Shifting Sands". The Shifting Sands are famous because since 1976 this pile of sand has mysteriously shifted approx 20m per year always in the same direction and never losing shape. Unless I saw it I would never have believed it. This sand pile is HUGE and just keeps going. They believe it has something to do with magnetic forces. This is all of us doing the "Toyota Jump" - as per the Aussies in our group ;) This is about the 20th photo we took of the jump and of course my legs didn't make it on this one!

Some more work of course

Trenches and water tank are coming along by the 2nd week. We are ahead of schedule already. Trench was finished (thanks to everyones hard work and all the help from the Maasai People!!) and work was being done to complete water tank and generator shed. The throwing and laying cement onto a tank is a Work of Art.....Rob don't quit your day job :) Everything is done manually. There are no machines here (again no electricity to power them), so everything from sifting the sand to mixing the cement to making the wooden barrier at the top for the roof is all manually made on the spot. Here is me using a "Tanzanian Axe" - machete in one hand, wooden block hammering it down in the other.

Endulen Hospital

There is a hospital in the area. It's a bit of a drive or walk, but of course everything is! The hospital is run by 6 Catholic Nuns. Their convent is right on sight and they serve as the nurses. There is of course a doctor as well. Sister Veronica is the head of the nuns and is a sweet sweet lady, as are the rest of the sisters. Father Matteo or Father Gasper usually comes by to say the evening mass at the Chapel (pictured) and pick up some fresh cow milk :) This is Sister Veronica and Father Matteo. The 2nd last photo is their medical airplane with supplies on the airstrip which we saw fly in. The last photo is us walking around the airstrip waiting to see the plane fly in.

Corn and the Village

Corn (mais) is the villagers main source of food. It is brought in by the council once a week and distributed to everyone - doesn't necessarily happen all the time. Here is them in action and the last photo is of the mill where they turn the corn into flour.