Arriving in
Nairobi... The beginning of my paleo adventure in a modern
African city
I arrived in Nairobi and found my driver to bring me to the place that had been arranged for the field school participants to stay - the Sirona Hotel. Once checked in, I found Professor Harris and some of the others enjoying cold drinks at the bar. I said my hellos, but was feeling a bit jet-lagged, so I retired to my room. The hotel provided us with a full breakfast in the mornings, and afterward, I walked to a nearby mall with a couple of the others, where I purchased some things that I had no idea that I would be needing. After returning to the Sirona, we had a welcome meeting, and then dinner. The next day, we visited the Museum in Nairobi, and got a tour of the archaeology department, as well as a catered lunch. The following day, we loaded up the lorries and began our paleo adventure.
Here are a few select photos from my trip to the cradle, described with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor.
This pic is of my hotel room at the Sirona Hotel in Nairobi, the place selected by the field school for the students and staff to stay. Thanks Rutgers, you've outdone yourself!
Actually, the hotel wasn't bad at all. And trust me, after sleeping in a dusty tent for 6 weeks, the beds at this hotel, and the occassionally running water, made this place to be the equivalent of the Taj Mahal once we returned back to Nairobi.
The next pic is a view out of my window at the Sirona. This might have come in handy because the water (and electricity) at the hotel was not always working.
No, I never did get close enough to see what exactly that was growing inside the tub.
The next pic is of THE skull from KNM-ER 3733. In other words, Homo erectus. Housed at the National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi. Sorry that the photo isn't very clear, but this is housed in a new section of the museum, which is under tight security, and photography is not allowed. Oops, my bad.
There were lots of other cool exhibits there too, like crazy-looking hominid figurine displays. I swear, they aren't MY ancestors! Seriously though. I always laugh at the artistic interpretation of what our early hominid ancestors looked like, but they had to look like SOMETHING, right??? Frankly, if he had a more receding hairline, he'd look alot like my oldest brother.
We are getting ready to leave the hotel and head on out to begin the field school. Here we are enthusaistically packing up the lorry with our supplies and personal items. Once we reached Ileret, the passing of supplies from the lorry was not as enthusiastic, and everything had to be passed down a very steep hill. The hill, by the way, was very fun to climb back down in the dark after going for our baths in Lake Turkana. NOT!
Some of the group loaded up on the Uni-mog. The young students actually RAN to get a seat on this, thinking 'how cool'.... Sure, they are smiling NOW..... That smile didn't last too long after they got going on the 4 day drive on mostly unpaved roads. They were so covered in red dust, that they were unrecognizable. They pulled their hoods or hats over their heads (or a towel) and tied anything they could find over their faces, which made it even MORE amusing for the rest of us to look at once they took them off again. Silly kids. By the end of the trip, they'd have sold their supporting parents' souls to NOT ride on the Uni-mog! The open air side panels made vomiting very convenient, but not so good for passing acacia shrubs. Ouch!
In case you've never laid eyes (or limb, or backside) on an acacia tree, check the next couple of photos (yes, those are very large thorns, in case you were wondering). And what I really want to know is, why didn't someone tell me that there would be acacia thorns in the dirt that went to the sifting screens? I wish I had a dollar for every time that I had to have my friend Cruz pull thorns out of my hands as a result.
One of the "creature comforts" for us old people, was a comfortable long journey in Jack's (or another) land-rover rather than being subjected to riding in the Uni-mog. Comfort, I found, is a relative word, and Jack is a maniacal driver. Can you say 'spinal-cord compression injury'???? I wonder if my own pathology will one day show lingering affects on my verts from riding with Jack?
On the way to our first stop: Mugie Ranch. This photo is looking out over the Rift Valley, heading to the Laikipia plateau. Part of the beauty that is the Kenyan landscape, and the beginning of our lessons about reconstructing a paleo-environment using a landscape approach.
Stay tuned, however, because the next photo shows how in just a short distance, the landscape changes to more of a 'moonscape. These rocks (a result of a "Paleo-Volcano" from Ethiopia) went on for miles and miles and miles and miles like a song by the Who. Lake Turkana is in the background, and Loiyangalani is a town nearby, home of my brother, Abdi.
I visited Abdi's house, and enjoyed meeting his mother and sister. His mother made me some great chai tea, and offered a little snack. Camel meat. It was the first time that I ate camel meat, but wouldn't be my last. It was actually really good... I'm just glad I wasn't told what it was BEFORE it went in my mouth, or I would have been very culturally insensitive, which would make me a very bad anthropologist. Of course, after eating that, everytime I passed a smiling camel on the road, I felt so guilty, that I had to yell out "POLE SANA".... (Swahili for "I'm sorry"), because Kenyan camels only understand Swahili (they don't have a mother-tongue) . :)
If I didn't know better, THIS particular camel knew what I did to his comrade, and is giving me a look of disgust. I don't blame him.
Our caravan on a moonscape, and the camel photos were taken by Phil, another victim of the KFFS. Thanks Phil!
Our first stop and campsite was at Mugie Ranch. I'll add Mugie Ranch photos, and eventually the rest of the trip photos soon. Or never. Just kidding, you can read about the Mugie part of my experience by clicking HERE or by utilizing the menu on the left.