Out of Eden
Homo sapiens set out to discover the Earth some 60,000 years ago,, traveling from Ethiopia’s Great Rift Valley to the farthest tip of South America. To retrace the diaspora, writer Paul Salopek has begun his own global journey, a seven-year, 21,000-mile trek that touches four continents. Calling the project, the Out of Eden Walk, Mr. Salopek is using the latest fossil and genetic findings to plot his route. A record of his travels is being posted on his blog. We first met Mr. Salopek on this blog when I wrote about him in ‘The Glorious Beauty of the Sahel‘ – an account of his captivity with the janjaweed in Darfur. It is interesting to note that in spite of all he had to endure, Mr. Salopek began his long walk at what he calls “our ground zero” – the archaeological diggings at Herto Bouri, where some of the oldest human bones, from 160,000 years ago, have been found. With guides and two camels, Mr. Salopek followed historic caravan routes across the Afar Triangle. After 43 days and 400 miles, he reached the Djibouti coast, near where humans exited Africa for the rest of the world. His journey continues and we will be following him online.
Source: The National Geographic, December 2013 edition
