Serengeti III

More Serengeti

The Serengeti

The Serengeti. 'Nuf said

Olduvai Gorge

Before this trip, I had never heard of Olduvai Gorge. Now, I can't believe I was actually there. Olduvai Gorge is called the cradle of mankind. It is where the famous archaeologists Mary and Louis Leaky discovered the the first hominid. Now classified as an Australopithicus boisei, the hominid was originally dubbed Zinjanthropus boisei.

Lots of quartz and quartzite tools have been found in the gorge. In fact, local Maasai will go and pile up tools they have found at the markers indicating key excavation sites. Interestingly, there are no quartz deposits near where they are found, and it is hypothe- sized that hominids had foresight to bring materials to where they were and make tools as deemed necessary, demonstrating forethought and a leap in cognitive thinking.

Feathers

More feathers!

First is the speckled mousebird. The Hadzabe like hunting them because they are a little slow on the ball. At one point, the Hadzabe, almost hit the mousebird, and the thing still didn't flee. It was only after the second arrow went by that it moved. A little bit.

Next is the Baglafecht weaver. Male of the species reichenowi according to my excellent bird book: Birds of East Africa by Stevenson and Fanshawe.

Next is the common fiscal. Even though they are common, they have very interesting patterning.

Last is a ring necked dove.

Hadzabe II

After we got to follow the hunters and watched them gather honey, we went back to their seasonal camp where they were preparing a dik dik that they had caught and killed earlier. The dik dik was skinned, decapitated, and gutted. The organs were cooked on a fire. Traditionally, the organs are reserved for the men, but they were generous to offer us all (male and female) a piece of the liver. I took a pass, but I think if I ever go back, I may try it next time. The head, we think, was cooked for the brain, and the carcass was taken by the women to be cooked.

After this, they gave us a chance to try and shoot some bow and arrows. A classic - it's a lot harder than it looks situation!

Hadzabe: Hunting

Way back when, humans were hunter/gatherers. We hunted where there was meat, and we collected and gathered water, fruit and vegetables where we could. When an environment could no longer sustain us, we moved to the next place to harvest the bounty that was there. Then we discovered agriculture, cultivation and domestication, allowing us to stay in one spot and create villages, cities, and empires.

Today, about 1% of the world's population maintain the hunter/gatherer lifestyle, and the Hadzabe are one tribe that does this. We were privileged enough to follow the Hadazabe while they hunted the lands. We had to stay behind the Hadzabe as they hunted with bow and arrow, and should we get in front of one, there was no guarantee we would not be in between the path of the selected prey and the hunter. While my group did not see a successful kill, some of the other groups did. If the kill was small, say a mousebird or dove, the men (women don't hunt) would light a fire immediately and cook and eat the kill. If it was larger, like a dik dik, they would bring it back to their camp to process there.

Fires are started by hand, using a stick, wood, kindling, and elbow grease. No lighters, not matches... nothing. While our group did not successfully kill anything, we did get to watch them harvest honey. Up a baobob tree was a beehive. Pegs are whittled prior to ascending, and then the pegs are inserted into the baobob and a ladder is formed, with each step being inserted into the baobob with a small hand axe. A fire was started to create a smoke torch to smoke out the bees to be able to retrieve the honey. The men are stung, but they are so used to it, it doesn't bother them.

Boys will start to follow their dads and uncles from about the age of ten, learning to see, stalk and most importantly, aim.

The Hadzabe, while hunter/gatherers to sustain themselves, also cater to tourists such as ourselves (in this context), charging a small fee to let us run around with them, and then at the end of our visit, shedding all their jewelry, accessories, bows and arrows and allowing us to purchase them.