Day 60

INATOSHA! Leo ni siku ya mwisho! Today was our last day with our beautiful pango. As I mentioned yesterday, we had a truly daunting list of things to accomplish at the site today. By some miracle, we managed to finish them all by 2 pm. The first thing we did this morning was take an official IRAP photo in the entrance of our rock shelter. It was pretty crucial to snap it first thing given how dirty we planned on getting today. The second the auto-timer went off, we rushed to set up the total station. At my behest, we excavated one last level this morning underneath where we found the human remains. I pronounced the feature finished 3 days ago, but then doubt started to creep into my mind. What if there was something else below? What if I missed something? What if failure to execute one more level would ruin my thesis, my career, and my life?! As a testament to their excellent character, the rest of the team humoured me and sat down to screen and collect one more level of goodies. Of course, there was nothing there. However, we finished at a depth which allows me to conclusively say we have all the remains, and therefore I can sleep soundly at night.

As soon as my paranoia was assuaged, we set about to an even more undesirable task: backfilling. If you recall, the traumatic loss of our tarp spread much of the dirt we removed down the hill. After marking the bottom of our trench and throwing in many of the rocks we originally removed, we set up an old fashioned bucket brigade to transport the remaining dirt. I’m not really sure how we did it (this is where the miracle must have happened), but we managed to refill the trench in less than an hour with dirt to spare. Then we sat around for a bit eating oranges and marvelling at our good fortune. Sometimes the most intimidating tasks end up being the simplest. Or maybe the universe finally took pity on us on our last day of field work.


On our way back to Iringa, we stopped at the Maasai and Wahehe villages along the road to tell them we’re finished, say goodbye, and pass out the last of the candy and pens. We also re-visited Nyamahana, the largest village in the area, to similarly report on our summer. It’s strange to think we won’t be going down that road anymore. After a month and a half in Iringa, everybody knows us and waves as we drive by in the morning. We have a relationship with this place and its people. I didn’t think I would be sad to leave our pango, but I have to admit that I am. It’s an odd little world that I’ll never forget. But as we discovered, we’re not the first and we won’t be the last people to make it home. The wind has changed and it’s time to move on to a new family. As for us, it’s time to start packing up for the long journey home. Only 2 weeks to go.