Paul Salopek

Paul Salopek decided to walk across the world. He decided to do this for so many reasons. The main reason is because 60,000 years ago our ancestors took this pathway who first discovered our Earth. He explains that it is not just because they delivered us to the planet but because they “bequeathed us the sublest qualities and we now associate with being fully human”. They are the reason why we are here according to Paul. They walked the strait called “Bab el Mandeb”the gate of the grief. It is from Africa to Arabia and made 2500 generations. Paul uses fossil evidence and genography to walk North from Africa into the Middle East. He will walk from Asia to China, to Siberia. Then from Russia he will cross in a ship to Alaska and finally to Tierra Del Fuego. It is 21,000 miles, seven years. This project is called Out of Eden.because he wants to relearn the contours of our planet walking three miles per hour, to think, write, see current events as a form of pilgrimage. He walks to remember. Nearly a billion people were on the move on Earth in that year. He says that we are living in the greatest mass migration our species had ever known. When he was in Djibouti, Africa, he saw all these african migrants waving their cellphones on the trashed beaches at night. They were trying to get cheap signal from Somalia which is on the other side of the beach. To him this was sad and strangely beautiful. He noticed that after 600 centuries we are still seeking for guidance and rescue from those who had walked before. In Herto Bouri, Ethiopia Paul introduced us to Mohamed Elema Hessan. This man was his companion. H e agreed to the crazy idea of going across 3 continents. In Elema’s village it was snowing and it was cold. They were waiting on 2 camels and 2 drivers who never showed up. As soon as it started to get hot they began walking to the East, across the Rift to their first border, Djibouti. In Ethiopia there is temperatures of 120 degrees fahrenheit. That day it was raining. Luckily they found and rented 2 camels. After 12 miles mohamed already wanted to give up. He explains that the scientists of Middle Awash invited them to begin walking there in Herto Bouri. Mile 0 in the Ethiopian Rift. Itid one of the richest human boneyards in the world. This is where some of the oldests human boneyards of the world were found. The homo sapiens idaltu who are gone for 160,000 years. This team of researchers have found the most important hominin fossils. Including Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4 million year old biped. Elema is their veteran fossil hunter. He speaks 3 languages and is a paleontologist. They are found outside of Aduma when they are found by the Middle Awash team and they take them to see the Middle Stone Age site. They see many different throwing weapons from 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. I would love to see the oldest …show more content…
They had no water and it was very hot. They visited another archaeological site called Gona. It has the oldest known tools in the world, 2.6 million years. He explains they were so anxious until they saw goats. Goats means people. There they stayed with a family of 8 children and old woman and two young women. He says that 60,000 years ago when the homosapiens walked they encountered other species of hominins. Like the homo neanderthalensis, homo floresiensis, and denisovans. Then they thank them and start walking again. Mohamed tells paul that the men of Hasma’s camp threatened him and he said he nearly hit them on the head with his walking stick. As they move on to Dubti Ethiopia they see a lot of sugar cane. It was the multimillion dollar Tendaho sugar plantation. This could make Ethiopia the sixth largest sugar producer in the world. A young girl who works there say they kicked them out of their land and they take advantage of their workers. The minimum wage is 20 dollars a month. After they stop in Dishoto to charge his laptop in the police station. They are all outsiders and very