Day 36

First of all, although we did see animals on our trip yesterday (including lovely elephants), there was intentional burning occurring throughout the national park that kept most away. Only the impalas were stupid enough to bask in the grass smoke. Nobody likes a savannah on fire.

Although I wanted nothing more than to throw myself into my rock shelter today and make sure it survived our absence intact, we surveyed two new sites instead. Katie and Pam met a cultural historian/anthropologist named Frank at a conference last year who happens to be researching Wahehe beliefs on witchcraft. His informants told him about a possible foot print site, which prompted him to call in the archaeologists. It is an unwritten rule among field researchers that whenever you encounter someone else in your study region, it’s best to collaborate as much as possible. Also, foot prints are particularly tantalizing to palaeoanthropologists, especially when they are located in volcanic deposits that can be dated. That is how we ended up hiking 5000 feet up a mountain to see something that looked like a left human foot print at 10,951 feet above sea level. Unfortunately, it was in 600 million year old granite which means that it can’t have possibly been created by a human foot. However, the anatomy of the imprint is so realistic that it looks as though someone may have carved it into the rock. If so, that would certainly make it the most interesting petroglyph I’ve ever seen. We recorded the site and gave it a SASES number. Even if it’s a natural phenomenon, it has become an important part of Wahehe lore and now constitutes a cultural site. What do you think of it? We also visited and documented a gigantic rock shelter near the village of Kiponzelo which our informants told us was used as a Wahehe meeting place in the 19th century. It was certainly big enough to hold a hundred people or so. Alas, that will be a research project for another year. Right now there is only room for one pango in our lives.

I think my favourite part of the day was when we stopped for lunch after our hike. We passed around the oranges, tangerines, and nuts as per usual, but I personally went straight for the chocolate chip cookies. After eating 4 in rapid succession, I realized that I had an audience of local kids. I couldn’t very well deny them cookies after they watched me attack the bag, so I gave them the rest. There was one girl, maybe 2 or 3, who looked like she had never seen a chocolate chip cookie in her life. She didn’t know quite what to do with it, and would only slowly lick it. In the meantime, her brothers and sisters pilfered pieces off the side to eat themselves. I don’t know if she liked the cookie or not, but it was pretty amazing just to watch her experience it. The next time you eat a cookie, don’t take it for granted.