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Sample
Safari
While on safari people often remark
that they have feel strangely at home in the bush, almost
as though they have been there before. It's not entirely
surprising. The environment of East Africa is literally
in our blood and has been for hundreds of thousands of years.
For anyone interested in paleontology, anthropology and
human evolution as well as wildlife there can be no better
place to go on safari than Kenya and Tanzania, where the
Leakeys made their most important discoveries.
Here is an itinerary for our human
evolution safari, which includes many of the sites and areas
made famous by the Leakeys. You can visit all or just one
or two of them during your safari. |
DAY
1,
Nairobi |
On
arrival in Nairobi you will be met by Ninian
and transferred to Ngong House a small hotel situated in the
leafy outskirts of Nairobi. The rooms are carefully appointed
tree houses, very private with wonderful views of the Ngong
Hills. You will also have a chance to get a “behind
the scenes” visit to the National Museum.
1 night at Ngong House |
DAYS 2,3,4
Shaba National Park |
After an
early breakfast Ninian will pick you up from the Hotel to
drive to Olorgesaile. This is a very scenic
journey — you get a wonderful view as you drop over
the shoulder of the Great Rift Valley. Mary and Louis Leakey
first visited Olorgesaile in 1942. There is a small area here
that is literally covered in hundreds of hand axes, cleavers,
as well as bolas stones and flakes. This site is still intact
today. After a morning among the exposures and stone tools,
you will have a picnic lunch, before driving to Magadi to
meet your private charter flight to Shaba National
Reserve, in Northern Kenya.
Shaba lies alongside Samburu and Buffalo Springs Reserves
on the edge of the semi-deserts of northern Kenya. Shaba is
a place of breathtaking beauty, made famous by Joy Adamson
and her leopard. Here you will see dry-country animals such
as the reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, gerenuk and oryx.
The elephants here can be incredible. The palm-fringed Ewaso
Nyiro River borders the reserve and is a magnet for game.
You can climb Ol Lolokwe or Shaba mountain, walk through gorges
and visit the Boran people, who use a human chain to lift
water from deep wells for thousands of cattle and camels.
Nearby is an extinct volcanic crater containing a soda lake
where Meru people collect salt using evaporation pans just
as they have done for thousand of years.
A Morning at Olorgesaile then
3 nights private luxury camping at Shaba
|
DAY 5
Koobi Fora |
In the
morning you will fly to the Kalacha Springs
arriving in time for lunch and a walk around the oasis to
see the local people watering their livestock.
From here it is a short flight to Koobi
Fora on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana.
The Pilo-Pleistocene fossil sediments found here are the
richest in the world and cover over 400 square miles. You
will spend the evening looking at some of the sites, maybe
doing some fishing, walking or just enjoying the beauty
of the stark landscape that contrasts so vividly with the
jade of the lake. The camp is self-catering, so you will
be at the mercy of Ninian’s cooking!
Morning at Kalacha. 1 night
at Koobi Fora Research Camp, Sibiloi National Park.
|
DAYS 6, 7, 8, 9
Masai Mara National Reserve |
After breakfast you will fly to the Masai
Mara via Rusinga Island for lunch
under the tree that Louis and Mary Leakey camped beneath
when they discovered Proconsul, followed by a walk around
the fossil beds to look at the site where the original Proconsul
specimen was found. These deposits are over 15 million years
old.
A short hop to the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The Mara is
Kenya's finest game-viewing area. Everything about this
reserve is outstanding. The wildlife is abundant and the
escarpment on the horizon frames the gently rolling grassland.
The Mara is famous for its predators, particularly lion,
cheetah and hyena, as well as its the plains game, such
as gazelle, zebra, topi and impala; you might also see elephant,
buffalo and giraffe. Depending on the time of year, you
may have the chance to see the spectacular wildebeest migration.
Although the Mara is principally a wildlife destination,
you can still have fun looking for stone tools and fossils
in the riverbeds.
1 Day in Rusinga, 4 nights of private luxury camping
in the Masai Mara
|
DAYS 10, 11, 12, 13
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania |
Fly to Ndutu and Lake
Masek in the Southern Serengeti
for four nights in your own private camp. This area is at
its best from the beginning of December till the end of May
when the wildebeest migration is accessible from here. However,
the prehistoric sites are worth a visit at any time of year,
especially those along Olduvai Gorge and
at Laetoli, where Louis and Mary had so much luck. Over the
years Louis, Mary and their team went on to find great specimens
of Australopithecus boisei, Homo habilis and Homo erectus.
As you walk down into the gorge it really is like walking
down through time. Mary made Laetloi famous in 1978 when she
found fossilized footprints which proved that hominids walked
upright over 3.5 million years ago. From contemporary fossils
it is thought that the tracks were made by Australopithecus
afarensis.
4 nights luxury camping Serengeti |
| Please note that we do not offer any fixed
itineraries or set departures. Each itinerary is specially
planned to suit the party’s interests, destinations are selected
in accordance with prevailing conditions and time of year.
The itinerary shown above serves only to illustrate a suggested
safari itinerary. Email
us if you are interested in this safari or a
similar one. If you are interested in information on the work
currently being carried by Dr. Louise Leakey in Koobi Fora
click here. |
Other sites that may
be of interest
Get more information
on projects that the Leakey
family are involved with and
have a look at what's going on at the National
Museum of Kenya. Incredible Rock Art has been found all
over Africa - find out more through the Trust
for African Rock Art. |
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