Anna’s Blog: Geology and Tooth Survey (6/24)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by age5

Hello World,

The theme of today was geology. David, the geologist at the camp, presented the class with a diagram of the bed numbers and layers of soil we’d be seeing out in Olduvai Gorge. He revealed that the lower algeria sandstone (LAS) in bed 2 is where we would be looking for fossil specimens. This layer is 1.7 million years old and was deposited by a river.

During the morning’s fossil hunt we were keeping an eye out for fossilized teeth. Teeth fossilize well due to their hard enamel coating. Teeth can tell you an exceptional amount about an environment such as the paleoclimate and diets of past animals. The group was searching for the fossilized teeth in a deep ravine, so we had to be extremely careful to not loose our footing as the drop off was significant at times. The loose sediments, although dangerous for us, was great for uncovering 1.5 million year old fossils.

After collecting our bags of fossilized teeth we went to the museum at Olduvai Gorge (which Dr. Manuel helped curate) to compare our teeth to their specimens in efforts to identify species accordingly. It was really cool! Just based on the shape of the teeth and height of the crowns, I was able to know that I had four 1.5 million year old zebra teeth and one ancestor of the common warthog. Dr. Manuel helped a lot with that determination because it can get very detailed.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Anna’s Blog: Olduvai Gorge Tour (6/23)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by age5

Hello World!

Today was the first day of archeology based study at Olduvai Gorge. Because it was a Sunday, we spent the day doing a chill tour of the museum at Olduvai and some of the field sites that Manuel and his team work on as well as the original sites that the Leakeys excavated.

The museum is beautiful at Olduvai. It is a cylindrical building with an open area in the middle that has acacia trees and an ancient rhino skeleton. There are 4 exhibit rooms that surround the open area with fossils found in the gorge as well as human history replicas and depictions. At the back of the museum is an outlook into the gorge which shows the iconic “castle” formation.

Looking out over the gorge gave me time to reflect on the privilege I hold. The research camp we were staying at was not visible to the untrained eye because it was built to blend into the landscape, but I could see the small green metal roofs. Visitations of the research station and many of the excavation sites in Olduvai are not available to the general public. Through knowing the researchers at the camp, we were able to stay a whole week at the camp and help with the excavations which is an experience I will never forget.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Anna’s Blog: Serengeti National Park (6/22)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by age5

Hello World,

Today came straight out of a BBC documentary! I can now say that I have spent time in the Serengeti National Park. We rose with the sun and set out for the Serengeti with high hopes. It took us 2 hours of dirt roads to get to the entrance. Within 30 minutes of entering the park, we witnessed the courting dance of a male ostrich and his lady friend. It was beautiful and funny all at the same time. He swayed side to side with his feathers sprawled as she examined his display. She decided that he was a fit individual and new ostriches were made.

After witnessing the conception of new ostriches we continued on our way. Along the way we saw a huge plume of smoke. My first thought was that the dry grass caught fire, and the rangers were letting it take its course because that is the natural process. My first hypothesis was challenged because planes were flying in and out of the smoke frequently. The rangers could have been supporting a controlled burn to promote new green grass. The rangers were fully aware of the fire, but I am not completely convinced weather the fire was intentional or accidental.

About an hour after seeing the huge fire, we ran into a sight that I will never be able to unsee. We turned down a road that had many cars clustered together. As we creeped closer, we realized that there was a large pride of lions feasting on their new cape buffalo meal. It was a gruesome and smelly event, but it left me in awe. The lionesses were right next to the car with some even using the car as shade. The feast was a civilized event. The adult lionesses allowed the cubs to eat first, and they followed in small groups after the younger members of the group fed. After each of the individuals fed, they walked over to the acacia tree to lay down and clean up their paws and face. Despite their fierce nature, they were elegant and beautiful cats.

One lone bull elephant was seen today.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Anna’s Blog: Olbalbal Cameras (6/21)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by age5

Hello World,

Today was our first ecology lab in Olduvai Gorge. We brought 6 game cameras with us from Houston in efforts of getting evidence of species richness in the area. Our area of interest was lake Olbalbal. The lake was an hours drive from the research camp near a Maasai village. We had to get special permission from the chief in order to place our cameras near the lake. We had a special Maasai connection that allowed us to meet the chief which was such a privilege.

As we entered the village there were many cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, and chickens. The older kids were running around with a soccer ball as the little kids were shyly waving our way. It was temping to play soccer with the kids, but the visit through the town was short.

The question we were trying to answer with the cameras was how the species richness changes in relation to distance from the water source. Two cameras were placed 120 ft from the waters edge, the next 2 were placed 1/2 a mile from the first with the last 2 cameras being placed an additional 1/2 mile from the second set.

On our way back from the lake, the class witnessed an amazing site! As the land cruisers entered open golden savannas we saw a herd of giraffes that never seemed ended. As I continued scanning the landscape, there were more and more giraffes. It was amazing. In total, we estimated over 100 giraffes in that one field amongst the acacia trees in the background. The land cruisers pulled over, and we all got out of the cars in order to take in the sight. Each and every person stared in awe at the grace of those magnificent creatures. There were no elephants to be seen today.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Carina’s Blog: Post Trip Reflections & Wrap-Up

Posted on July 2, 2024 by cag18

Sometimes there are big questions that cannot be answered. In this course, especially, I’ve gotten to explore that.

How did we get here? Why?

What caused us to become human?

What even is a human?

All of this I’ve been able to get closer to, but I’m still so curious and will never know. This course definitely spurred some existential ponderings.

The environment of Africa played a major role in the evolution of humans, and I can’t believe I had the opportunity to observe some of that history up close. Learning about our past is key to understanding who we are today and how we got here.

As for the current African ecosystems we experienced, there are so many factors that make it the spectacular place it is today. The perfect combination of climate, geology, and evolution allows the incredible diversity and abundance of wildlife. I was in awe of seeing ecology in action- from adaptations in specific niches to competition between species. Everything has a delicate balance that is maintained through a dance of death and life, survival and mortality.

One thing I noticed was the harmony between local people, their domesticated livestock herds, and wild animals. There seemed to be an agreement that they were all sharing the space, and they coexisted as part of one complete ecosystem. We tend to think of ourselves as human as closed off from “the wild“ but we participate in, impact, and are affected by the world around us. This was very evident with the Maasai people, who aren’t bound by the arbitrary lines of national borders or protected conservation areas. They are part of the environment, just as much as the cattle they herd and the hyenas they hear at night.

Something I learned from this trip was how exciting archaeology can be. So far, I‘ve only learned about it in classes and reading (and ok, yes, Indiana Jones). But getting to be apart of excavations was exhilarating after having the background knowledge of the site and science behind it. I learned that archaeology is unique in that it involves a lot of intellectual research and scientific writing, but is also combined with fieldwork in which you‘re working with your hands. I think that combination is very rare. I‘m not sure I could handle fieldwork long term (I’ve missed my bed) but I‘ve found myself wanting to search for fossils in my backyard.

Here‘s a sampling of random fun facts I‘ve learned:

  1. Obsidian can be sourced to the exact volcano that formed it! It has a chemical signature that can be analyzed in a lab and matched to its source. Dr. Prendergast found an obsidian flake around Lake Olbalbal while we were setting up game cameras, and said it was most likely from a volcano in Kenya. How did it end up at our feet, hundred of miles away? It was most likely traded across the distance, passing hands until it got there. One small artifact can tell us so much about the past, including reconstructing environment and culture.
  2. Elephants have a lot of complex emotions, including empathy and grief. Their young travel in the middle of the herd for protection. They’re known to visit the old graves of relatives to grieve. I think this emotional intelligence may have developed because raising an elephant from gestation to adulthood involves very high energy costs, so each individual‘s survival is highly important to the group. Recently, a study found that elephants have unique calls for eachother, much like how we use names.
  3. Social traits, such as empathy, can actually be traced through the hominin fossil record. There was a hominin that died of vitamin A poisoning, but lived much beyond the life expantancy predicted for that condition. The theory is that other hominins in its group were taking care of it. Another hominin had severe tooth decay, but was fed by others so it survived longer than expected. This evidence of community and mutual caretaking goes back 1.7 million years.

The main thing that I still can’t wrap my head around, is how we can learn so much from such a limited amount of information. Finding a giraffe tooth fragment doesn‘t just tell you that a giraffe lived there. It tells you about the environment it was in, what it was eating, the climate, and so much more. The traces of life left behind are clues for us to uncover mysteries of the past. And man, do I like a good mystery.

This trip tested my strength in many ways and I feel like I’ve grown and learned so much. I have had so many novel eye-opening experiences that wouldn‘t be possible anywhere else, and I’m so grateful for our course instructors, Dr. Dominguez Rodrigo and Dr. Solomon, for supporting us and making all of this possible.

Take care Tanzania,

Carina

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Anna’s Blog: Ngorongoro Crater (6/20)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by age5

Hello World,

Day 6 was spent in the largest caldera in the world! The group was off to Ngorongoro Crater early in the morning in order to get through the crowded front gates. At the gate, we were greeted with baboons. They were cool to see but very naughty monkeys. They found amusement by chasing one another on the roofs and running in between cars. The walls of the crater were covered in a blanket of clouds as we climbed up and over the rim. Descending into the caldera, the clouds parted ways to reveal a striking view of the savannah interior below. Along the road into the crater there were massive candelabra cacti that towered over much of the other vegetation. These cacti have very thick succulent flesh with thorns that line the square edges of the stalk.

There were 3 new wildlife spottings during the drive. The first (very exciting) sight was the greater and lesser species of flamingos. The shoreline of the lake in the center of the caldera was inundated with varying shades of pink. The group was in disbelief because we did not expect to see them in the dry season. The next icon of the savannah was the hippo. We saw a large group of hippos with approximately 30 individuals. They were escaping the mid day heat with only their twitching ears and eyes peering out of the water. Despite their massive size, we had to keep an eye out for them because it was easy for them to resemble a large rock. Last but not least was the king and queens of the savannah. Laying out in a small dried up wallow was a bachelor lion. He was rolling around as my house cat would. I wanted so badly to give him a pat but had to continuously remind myself that I would be easy prey given the chance. Later on we found a full pride of lions with around 10 lionesses and one male. They were chilling in the heat of the day as a nearby herd of gazelles watched in angst. During the day we did see some elephants both in female herds and a lone male.

Everyone tells you to avoid the hippos and the lions, but it turns out those animals are not the only concern. The group enjoyed lunch at the hippo pool in the crater. We had some chicken wings with pasta and had been warned of the shrikes (hungry birds). We were watching the birds swoop at the picnics of other tourists, and got a bit too confident that they would not target us. Little did we know our time had not yet come. Dr. Prendergast was working on a chicken wing, and before we knew it a bird swooped down and knocked it out of her hand. I was in sheer disbelief as the shrike bushed my back. I thought my time was up LOL! In the end, we won because the shrike did not fly away with any goodies.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Rose’s Blog Day 13–Are Y’all Mormons or Something?

Posted on July 2, 2024 by rose!

I LOVE ISTANBUL. SO MUCH. SOSOSOSO MUCH. The stereotypes are all true: there are THAT many stray cats here. The mosques are beautiful, and you can’t turn a corner without running into another one. The ice cream? Mind blowing. The walkability and public transit? Perfect.

After landing in Istanbul, we encountered yet another obstacle: the airport shuttle apparently did not exist. Not to fear–we managed to cram fourteen people and 28 checked bags into two taxis. Don’t ask me how.

Turkish Airlines set us up at a frankly far too nice hotel, but we were anxious to get out and explore. After even more setbacks with international ATMs (yes, they will eat your debit card) and metro passes, we finally made our way downtown. 

The group (post-metro)

The Grand Bazaar was all it was cracked up to be–between the spices, turkish delights, and pottery, I befriended a kitten that Caroline and I dubbed Typhoid. Rabies (the stray cat at the Olduvai camp) will be forever in our hearts, but it was nice to pet a cat and not fear infectious disease. Our group was mistaken by one vendor for a family, who (I’ve heard) was reasonably impressed that Dr. Solomon wrangled that many children.

Caroline and I doting on Typhoid

We had our final dinner after walking over to the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. I’m sure you’ve gotten sick of me saying it by now, but it was a bittersweet goodbye. The food was good, the company was better. 

After dinner, we managed another amazing feat in transportation–fourteen people in one cab. The driver, who was of questionable state of mind, gave our group one glance, looked back to Dr. Solomon, and stated, “For you Scott? We can fit.” And thus began the most memorable taxi ride of my life. 

The next morning, we walked the streets of Istanbul in a search for Turkish coffee, crooning to stray cats and browsing small markets on our way. By the time it was time to leave for the airport, we had all fallen in love with the city.

One of our friends from this morning’s walk

It wouldn’t be a story about our travel if there wasn’t one last setback. Though the three taxis taking us back to the Istanbul Airport allowed us a little more breathing room, once we got to the airport we faced not one, not two, not three, but FOUR rounds of security. Luckily, our flight was delayed a few hours– just long enough to have my first Big Mac and McDonald’s Sprite. True American, right here.

 

Missing my cat at home, Rabies, Typhoid, and all of the street cats of Istanbul,

 

Rose

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Rose’s Blog Day 12–Once Upon a Time We Traveled Uneventfully

Posted on July 2, 2024 by rose!

Unfortunately, that was not how today went. Not in the slightest. 

We started our days early, waking up before the sunrise to pack up our tents–a bittersweet goodbye. Will I miss the dust? No. Will I miss it there? I already do. We were on the road by 7:30 with everything going according to plan. That didn’t last long.

One of our Land Cruisers suffered a very unfortunate breakdown (the fuel line stopped pumping?) just after leaving camp. Thus ensued many, many (8 hours) of misfortune. We stopped every few miles so that our wonderful, lovely, amazing, perfect drivers, Muhammad and Kristin, could manually pump more fuel into the tank. As we were skirting the rim of the largest caldera on Earth. Enough said.

Even with our difficulties, the crater was still astoundingly beautiful

The drive was, frankly, brutal. None of us had had a very big breakfast, and with all the stops, it was hours before we reached a bathroom. Muhammad, in a very well-intentioned fashion, refused to let us pee in the bushes. 

Descending the crater was slightly less eventful, but it was still hours before we reached Karatu, where our lunches were waiting. We ate on the road, holding onto a desperate hope of reaching Nairobi before nightfall (spoiler alert: we didn’t). After reaching Arusha, we had another difficult goodbye with our drivers. They had been with us for almost all of our time in Tanzania, and had helped us navigate breakdowns in the Serengeti, hours and hours of dirt road driving, and approximately a billion trips between the Olduvai camp and museum. We switched over to a bus at the Arusha mall (by then, a familiar sight). 

Crossing the border into Kenya proved yet another obstacle. For legal reasons, I will not go into detail. Suffice to say, it was interesting.

While I won’t discuss the events that occurred at the border crossing, enjoy this picture at the border instead

We arrived in Nairobi at an airport hotel just before 10 pm. Fourteen hours of driving. Those of us yearning more for a meal than a nap went to the airport hotel restaurant, which was perhaps our last culture shock in Africa–it took two hours for us to eat, at which point we collapsed into our beds for the shortest night of sleep of my life.

At 4 am the next day, plagued by motion sickness, stomach troubles, and sleep deprivation, we departed for the Nairobi airport, narrowly missing civil unrest that has been wracking Nairobi for weeks. Boarding the plane was the greatest sigh of relief I’ve taken on this trip (besides our arrival at Ecoscience Lodge).

Trying not to throw up on the plane,

Rose

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Isabella’s Blog: Day 12 (6/28-30/2024)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by iyb1

Travel days:

On Friday morning (6/28) we woke up at 6 am to pack up our bags and tents before breakfast. After breakfast we loaded up the car and left Olduvai at around 7:45 (insert pun “Olduvai, more like Oldu-bye). Getting to Arusha was no easy feat. There was a problem with a filter in our land rover, so we had to manually pump gas into the engine. We stopped no less than 11 times, it was excruciating. Our drivers were doing their best, and it was really gratifying to see other hired drivers stop and help fix our car, it really highlight the kind of driving community they have, something Houston is sorely missing. It was rough going up the hills and it felt like we were literally crawling up the crater wall. We were supposed to make it to the cafe to pick up our lunches at 9:30 am, and we arrived there at 1:00pm. It was insane. 

We finally made it to Arusha and transferred to a new shuttle, we were supposed to share our shuttle with four other people from a different group, but since we were late, they went in a different car. Which was a small mercy as there was zero room in that shuttle for even another person. We made it to the border crossing, and it was relatively quick as we only had to wait 30 minutes total. This interesting part, was that three of the people in the group did not get their yellow fever vaccine, so they did not have their yellow fever card. However when they went to a seperate line, they

…..

I am truly figuring out what my limit is as I am on my fourth day of travel, sitting in IAH at 5 am trying to write this blog and my computer just died on me mid sentence, so I apologize if this blog is disjointed. 

I was worried about some people not having their yellow fever cards and being stuck at the border. But it was around 7 pm at night, so I just focused on getting myself through Tanzania and Kenya immigration. As we collected as a group again, the three students without the vaccine were able to get through immigration with little hiccup. As we were waiting for ppl to finish up, I turn and see a little yellow card poking out of the passport of someone who definitely did not have it pre border. It turns out that the border office gave them all a yellow fever vaccine card, fully filled out, (a vaccine that lasts for life mind you), for the low price of 50$ each. Not knowing what was really happening, these people might’ve bribed the border control officers to get to Kenya, or got severely scammed, or both. (If any legal authorities are reading this, the above paragraph is a bad joke). Crazy situation but we were able to move on to our next country, Kenya. 

After that we drove to Nairobi and finally made it to the airport hotel at around 10 pm at night. We totaled the travel hours, and it was around 14 hours of travel that day. I went with some other students to get dinner before bed, but that took forever so I didn’t make it to bed until 12 am. However, I did take a warm shower with zero wind, which was the first time in over a week. Small mercies. It was also the first time I didn’t have to sleep on the ground, but I did sleep in my sleeping bag on top of the covers because I got into my head about germs (I blame the lack of sleep that I couldn’t think rationally about that because the hotel was just fine). We woke up at the restful hour of 3:30am to make our flight, and made it on the flightwith minutes to spare. It was annoying because people kept cutting us, which I normally would give people grace as maybe their flight is taking off in 10 minutes, however WE HAD 10 MINS TO MAKE OUR FLIGHT. Ridiculous. 

We took our 7 hour flight and finally made it to Istanbul. When we landed, it was really cramped in the isle, like no breathing space, but that did not stop someone from the window seat in my row from taking their luggage out of the overhead shelf. It involved them heavily leaning into the isle, while their body was still the row, no sign of the line in the isle moving, and zero reason for him to have his luggage in that exact moment. I did tell him that “you should wait as there is no space” but he refused saying “it was really small” (a full luggage is not in the zone of being small) and almost decapitated me, forcing to dodge this swinging hardshell wrecking ball. Not to mention there was a screaming kid behind me the whole flight, the other person behind me was throwing up as we landed adding to the nausea. And the multiple times they got up for the bathroom, they used my seat as leverage, so I was continually yanked backwards and then slingshotted forward when they let go, every time resulting in me being jolted out of my attempt to sleep. 

 

After leaving customs, where the customs agent who was servicing the line I was in took forever because he had his AirPods in and was texting in between people, we took a packed taxi to the hotel (compensated by Turkish airlines!). We could barely move our legs and there was no AC, so we were relying on the front seat’s open window for circulation.

(The first taxi that was super spacious)

We finally made it to the hotel and it was quite nice. We had a few minutes to get settled in before we went to go explore the city. We took the metro and made it to the grand bazaar, it was everything I dreamed. It was so cool, the tiling was so beautiful, when anna got the Turkish ice cream it was so funny, and the vendors were very persuasive. I was able to bargain a little and was able to get baklava and a ring! After we walked to the Hagia Sophia and the blue mosque which was incredible. We ended the night with an amazing dinner, an insanely expensive cocktail, and a taxi that somehow fit all 14 of us? I am so glad we got to have a day in Istanbul and I definitely want to go back. 

(The Grand Bazaar)

(Us petting one of the many cats in Istanbul)

(the taxi that fit all 14 of us!)

In the morning, my roommate Caroline and I woke up at 6:30am to go to the Turkish bath and sauna amenities. I don’t think we did it right, but it was a fun experience either way. We grabbed complementary breakfast which had amazing orange juice (very different the olduvai breakfast) and then we set out with two others to explore the city and find Turkish coffee. There was quite a lot of cats to pet, so it was slow goings (but for good reason), and a lot of shops were closed as it was 8 am on a Sunday. We eventually got coffee at the cafe across the street from the hotel and I got a Turkish coffee. After I drank it, I felt like I was vibrating as the caffeine content was 160 mg (a usual cup of coffee has 80 mg) and I don’t usually drink caffeine. 

We then took a taxi to the Istanbul airport and the security was extensive. We first had to put our baggage through a scanner, and then had to wait in a five row deep line to check in the bags (a process that included reviewing our passports two times before we could check our bags in). After that we had to go through immigration, which took forever, and then we had to go through TSA. And before we got on our flight, we had to go through a triple security search. It was crazy. We finally boarded this plane (after it was delayed for two hours) and made our way to Houston. I was able to watch three movies, but passed out during the fourth. There was one child who kept losing their cool which was horrifying but it was only 12 whole hours of my life, and it was generally way better than the previous flight. After the flight we went through immigration and took the rice shuttle to campus (I still can’t believe it can make it on the freeway and go that fast?!). We made it to ABL and dropped off our camping gear and my friend esha picked me up. I got to visit her place which was really cool as she lives in a hotel and I’ve been dying to visit her place since freshman year, however we only made it there at 11pm and I had to leave a few hours later for my flight so we couldn’t catch up that long. So again I woke up at 4 am to make my flight at IAH. Which is the MO of these travel days. I am about to board my first of the two flights to get me from Houston to California and hopefully my sister will be there to pick me up because I don’t know how much more traveling coordination I can endure.

Update, the lady next to me on this flight has her crusty white dog in her lap. When will people let me live. 

Some takeaways from this traveling marathon 

  • I traveled to three different continents in one weekend 
  • The US heavily relies on other countries to do the immigration screening for them it’s kinda terrifying
  • The drivers we had in Tanzania are amazing and I am so grateful for their chipper demeanors despite having a car that keeps breaking down and having to drive for 10 hours straight
  • Cutting culture sucks and I hope karma finds those who participate in this culture 
  • Flying brings out the worst in people (humanity instantly gone) 
  • You can never pack too many sweatshirts
  • I really feel for parents who have to fly with their kids, because it must be really stressful, and they cant leave their kid at the end of the flight like I can (just kidding I’m sure their kid is an angel normally)
  • Four consecutive flights is not a great idea
  • I don’t know what sleep cycle I’m on anymore 
  • I would kill for sweet green right now
  • People don’t know about women’s history month (it’s in March ppl)
  • Traveling for four days is not super fun 
  • Traveling by myself without having to account and wait for others is a luxury I am now aware of (not that I regret the amount of ppl in this course, if there was an option for more ppl to come I would 100% support that)
  • Lana del Rey is king
  • The students in this course have been able to keep their cool despite the trials and tribulations they have gone through which is incredible
  • Writing this blog entry has been very cathartic however this content is potentially not what Dr. Manuel or Dr. Scott envisioned 

I genuinely had so much fun on this trip, so don’t let this travel blog trick you, I promise my gratitude will show through in my reflection blog. 

Currently flighting for my life

Isabella-2024-Bovini

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Anna’s Blog: Elephant Caves! (6/19)

Posted on July 2, 2024 by age5

Hello World,

Hold onto your hats because day 5 got WILD. We started out the day by leaving the Ecoscience lodge and heading to a forest lodge on the lower slopes of the Ngorongoro crater. After settling in at the lodge, the group headed to Endoro Conservation Area where we went on a hike with 3 of the park rangers. Before going into the park we were warned of the dangerous animals such as cape buffalo and leopards to explain for the large guns by their sides. The goals of the hike were to visit a waterfall and the elephant cave. The elephant cave is a cliffside with salt in the rocks that the elephants have licked away into slight caves.

We were warned to listen to the rangers if any instructions were given. For cape buffalo the protocol was to quickly lie flat on the ground because it confuses the buffalo. The hope is that they would move on and not charge the class, but I was not wanting to find out. There was fresh buffalo and elephant dung along the trail so the chances of running into one of the two seemed high.

As we neared the elephant caves the guide leading the group urged everyone to be quite. As we turned the corner there were a family of elephants licking the salt from the cliffside. They were beautifully elegant for their size. The class stood in silent awe as the elephants went about their business fully knowing that we were there.

After visiting the elephants, we headed to the waterfall. It was a steep downhill trail that was lined with huge banana trees. The views from the trail were stunning as they looked out over the eastern slopes of Ngoro

ngoro Crater. Nearing the waterfall, the water roared and the mist consumed the air around the group. We had to be careful when viewing and taking pictures around the waterfall because there had recently been a landslide nearby. The ground was slippery and weak in spots. After some time with the cascading falls, we headed back to the cars. Along the way we could hear a catholic choir singing off in the distance. It was a beautiful end to the hike and the day at large.

Thank you for tuning in!

 

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