Laetoli; a new Elephant and a new year

A new Elephant for a new year, born on the 2nd of january and filmed on the 3rd, named Laetoli after the place of her birth.

Laetoli is a site in Tanzania, dated to the Plio-Pleistocene and famous for its hominin footprints, preserved in volcanic ash (Site G). The site of the Laetoli footprints is located 45 km south of Olduvai gorge. Excavated by archaeologists Louis and Mary Leaky, the site is famous for its hominin footprints, preserved in volcanic ash and unearthed in 1978. “The Laetoli Footprints” received significant recognition by the public, providing convincing evidence of bipedalism in Pliocene hominids based on analysis of the impressions. The footprints and skeletal structure excavated at Laetoli showed clear evidence that bipedalism preceded enlarged brains in hominids. Although it is highly debated, it is believed the three individuals who made these footprints belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis. Along with footprints were other discoveries including hominin and animal skeletal remains and Acheulean artifacts.

Christmas and New Year in the Bush

The Serian festivities came and went very quickly this year but just to give you all a few highlights:

Christmas Eve was spent out on the great Mara plains watching the sun go down, sitting around a lovely bush fire before heading back to camp for a scrummy roast ham dinner.



Sundowners overlooking the escarpment



 On Christmas Day we celebrated in the evening with Christmas carols, Crackers, Christmas lights and a Roast Turkey.

  

Christmas breakfast on the Mara River outside Ngare



Chrstmas table been laid out



Elegant looking table



Our African Christmas Tree



Santa at the bottom of our tree



Boxing Day we had the pleasure of a magnificent sighting of Zawadi right outside Ngare who was very relaxed and felt right at home with us there watching her.



Our resident Genet came to vist on Christmas day to see what Santa had bought - beef fillet! :)



Roisin getting a first class viewing of Zawadi



As elegant as ever

Then we skip a few days and it takes us to New Year’s Eve. We tried to do a dinner out under the stars but alas that did not last long before the rains chased us inside.

Ngare deck all set up before the rains came down

This however this did not dampen our moods and we set everything up inside and continued there and had a mouth-watering beef fillet.  

After dinner we had some Moran’s come in and do a little singing and dancing for the guests. They danced their way around the table before we all chinked our bubbly together and said Happy New Year (or Mwaka Mpya Wenye Mafanikio) and lit our sparkles to write 2012 in the air.

Wishing you all out there a year filled with love, happiness and full of adventure! Happy 2012 – bring on the good times! J