Age, it’s all relative.

I am not old. Granted I am no spring chicken, things creek that shouldn’t when I stand sometimes and I do find myself saying “where did I leave my glasses?” more often than I would like, but I no longer view myself as old. I used to…all the time…just ask any of my friends. So what fixed me? Not a trip to the fountain of youth (although as soon as I can discover its location I will be there!), in fact quite the opposite – a trip to the desert of old. I have been to Oldupai Gorge on the plains of East Africa (you probably know it as the Olduvai Gorge but the name was changed in 2005 to correct for common mispronunciation). You may also know it as the “cradle of mankind”.

There is a whole lot of history here, stuff that if I try and relay it to you I am sure to draw a nasty e-mail from my all knowing history buff cousin Ryan that will detail the erroneousness facts, so instead I will just refer you to Wikipedia for the accurate info. I will however pass on a few insights that I learnt from an onsite visit.

1) The common East African trinkets there are overpriced and there is no bartering.
2) The gorge is part of the Great Rift Valley (large trench that stretches from Syria to Mozambique)
3) The gorge was discovered over a hundred years ago by a German man chasing a butterfly.
4) Many little lizards run all over the viewpoint to the gorge.
5) The skulls of very peculiar, now extinct animals are displayed here (and I thought the animals now were weird looking…).
6) Masai still roam free, with their cattle of course, through the gorge.
7) While the site is home to MANY significant archeological discoveries, it is the ‘footprints’ that seem to generate the most buzz.

These footprints are the first of their kind and they indicate 3 people, walking upright with an arched foot at a leisurely pace. This is very significant (no I am not sure exactly why but trust me it is). There is a small museum on site that houses a cast of these footprints. The original prints, after being uncovered from their comfy volcanic ash preservation bed for millions of years, did not fare well to the elements. As a conservation attempt the footprints were recovered and two local Masai were appointed as guardians to the site. There is talk of one day re-uncovering the prints in the hopes to draw more tourists…anthropologists see many faults with such a plan but the current President sees dollar signs (or I guess it would be shilling signs in this case). My next few comments are directed to one person (but you are all happy to read them)

Dear President Kikwete,

I am not sure if you are a reader of my blog at all…but if you do leave happen to stumble across this, I write to you directly, as a tourist. Don’t uncover the footprints. The casting of them is just fine. This project will take millions of dollars and possibly destroy an irreplaceable artifact. Tourists will not fly to Tanzania to see some footprints in the dirt (well very few will). Continue to exploit your unique wildlife and endangered species – that’s where the real money is.

Sincerely,

Amy Leah Potter, a satisfied tourist in Tanzania.

To the rest of you, to summarize, Oldupai Gorge: very old (3,000,000,000+), extremely significant to those who study old bones and evolution, fake footprints are probably just as good as seeing the real thing and it’s a good photo spot, particularly if you like lizards. Age, it’s all relative.