Safari

Kenya, Travel

Most of you know I had a brief holiday to Tanzania last week, but until now I have been quiet on how it all went. Rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, other than the semi-shocking experience with my hair cut this week, I am OK! The hair is growing back and I’m actually getting lots of compliments around Tala. Hah, they just don’t understand the beach/hippie thing here I guess! Before I get to the trip, a brief bit of background…

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Tanzania is just to the south of Kenya, and while it has a similar population the country covers some 300,000 square kilometers more area than Kenya. The country received independence a few years before Kenya, and immediately pursued socialist economic policies. I spoke with several people who credit Tanzania’s strong society (yet poor economy) with their socialist beginnings. Even now, with over 100 ethnic groups (keep in mind Kenya has about 40), everyone speaks one language and is united over a common Tanzanian identity. Kenya, on the other hand, followed “free market” economic policies and made English an official language in addition to Swahili; as a result Kenya’s economy is the strongest in East Africa today. Continue Reading

Kenya

You see, I am going to Tanzania this coming weekend (April 13th). I will be visiting Tanzania, where some of the oldest human remains in the world have been found. It is believed that early humans hung out and evolved here in East Africa’s Great Rift Valley. In the 1950s and 60s anthropologists Louis, Mary, and Richard Leakey discovered fossil remains at the Olduvai Gorge and since then several others have been found in Northern Kenya and Ethiopia. Here’s an awesome picture of the Ngorongoro Crater, near the gorge:

A quick look at wikipedia confirms that the crater is pretty freakin’ awesome as well:

… the world’s largest unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera. The Crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago …

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