[Monday, February 9]
There is a watering hole right next to the hotel’s outdoor
infinity pool. When we returned from our safari game viewing there were about a dozen elephants drinking
and watering themselves. We stopped to watch and have iced tea by the pool.
That evening, we gathered at the pool at
6 PM for cocktails and a Maasai warrior dance. The men performed a ceremony that would celebrate the killing of a lion. They had a competition of who could leap the highest with the least effort. Of course, they don't hunt lion now, as it's not permitted. But they explained that they are passing on the singing and dance tradition to the new generation.
We then had the privilege of meeting Louise Leakey and
listened to her lecture, “Olduvai Gorge: The Search for and Discovery of Human
Origins in Eastern Africa. She
told about the history of Louis Leakey working in this area in Africa in the
1930s. And of her parents, Richard
and Mary Leakey and their many discoveries in the Olduvai Gorge. She also talked about some interesting new ideas, such as using drones and geopositioning
to map the surface of the Rift Valley and using crowd sourcing and school classes to look at the
photos to try to identify important skeletal finds.
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| Respecting the grandfather elephant on the left |
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| Two juvenile members of the herd |
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| Maasai ceremonial chant and dance |
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| Competition to jump the highest with smallest obvious effort |
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| This particular ceremony celebrates a lion hunt |
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