An Excerpt From:

Around the World with a Million

Kids
Adventures of an Online Explorer

John Fox
 4869 Main Street
P.O. Box 2200
Manchester Center, Vermont 05255
www.northshire.com/printondemand.php

© 2008 by John Fox

Cover design by Eighthourday

www.eighthourday.com

Cover photographs by David McLain/Aurora

ISBN: 978-1-60571-011-2
Library of Congress Control Number: PCN 2008907122

Building Community, One Book at a Time

This book was printed at the Northshire Bookstore, a family-owned,
independent bookstore
in Manchester Center, Vermont, since 1976. We are committed to
excellence in bookselling.
The Northshire Bookstore’s mission is to serve as a resource for
information, ideas, and entertainment while honoring the needs of
customers, staff, and community.

Printed in the United States of America

using an Espresso Book Machine from On Demand Books
 For Amelia and Aidan

Don’t take my word for it.

Go find out for yourselves.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
1 :: AfricaQuest 1
The Mystery of Human Origins
2 :: AsiaQuest 26
The Fabled Journey of Marco Polo
3 :: AmericaQuest 47
Mysteries of the Ancient Anasazi
4 :: IslandQuest 62
Secrets of Longevity
5 :: AustraliaQuest 68
Aboriginal Culture and Wisdom
6 :: MayaQuest 82
Collapse of the Ancient Maya
7 :: AmazonQuest 95
Rainforest in Danger
8 :: GreeceQuest 115
Origins of Western Civilization
9 :: ColumbusQuest 141
The Trail of the Great Explorer
Note on Sources 169
 CHAPTER 1
AfricaQuest
The Mystery of Human Origins
AfricaQuest was my inaugural Quest – an
epic journey by mountain bike through
East Africa’s Rift Valley, from the parched
Turkana desert of northern Kenya to the
lakes of Tanzania. Our mission was to
explore the mystery of human origins in
the region known as the cradle of
humankind. For two months we explored
ancient fossil sites, met with
anthropologists, primatologists, and wildlife
biologists, and came to befriend the great
diversity of people – Turkana, Samburu,
Pokot, Maasai, Hadzabe – who still call this
great valley home.

Best: Biking 40 mph down the Rift Valley

escarpment with a laptop in my pannier
Worst: Dining on rotten kudu with the
Hadza tribe
Avoiding Crocs, Finding Fossils
Lake Turkana, Kenya – As the team archaeologist, I was
less than thrilled when our online collaborators sent us to
Lake Turkana’s Central Island here in northern Kenya. Part
of the reason was that I was secretly pulling for Kanapoi,
a famous site where paleontologists found fossils of the
earliest known human ancestor.
The other reason is that Central Island is famous,
supposedly, for being the home to 20,000 crocodiles!
Some of these crocodiles are reported to weigh 2,200
pounds and to have a taste for human flesh. I should have
figured that kids would vote for us to go where we’d be
eaten.
We spent four long days getting there, traveling
through hot, thorny desert, eating bad food, and trying not
to collapse from exhaustion. On the shores of Lake
Turkana, we had to pay $200 for a forty-minute boat ride
over 10-foot waves that made us all feel like puking.
The whole way there, we thought of those crocs and
whether or not we should be going to Lake Turkana at all.
We had visions of seething reptiles, just waiting for
AfricaQuest appetizers. When we stepped off the boat, we
were faced with a Martian-like landscape with little more
than rocks and boulders to focus on.
We climbed up to two crater lakes, watched some
distant flamingos, and hiked down. Hot, tired, and a little
bored, we went for a swim. Only then did I spot a big old
crocodile the size of a kitchen table floating along, too
close for comfort! Needless to say, my swim was over.
Our trip to Central Island showed that sometimes the
most interesting things on expeditions happen in between
destinations. On our way to visit the crocodiles, our
Turkana guide, Justus, took us to a fossil site where he
helped dig up fossils of our earliest ancestors. This was a

7
highlight for me, since I found four million year old fish,
pig, and crocodile fossils!
I’m not the only one who has found fossils in this
region. Recently, scientists found the jaw and leg bones
here of a fellow called Australopithecus anamensis, which
means “southern ape of the lake.” To the average person,
these bones look pretty insignificant, like upside-down
puzzle pieces. But in the hands of paleoanthropologists
these scraps of tooth and bone come to life and tell
amazing stories.
One of the paleoanthropologists who have been
weaving these stories is Louise Leakey, a Kenyan
paleontologist. Last week we talked with Louise Leakey
before we left for the Turkana region. At 26, she is the
latest in the most famous of fossil families. Her
grandfather, father, and mother have made some of the
most amazing discoveries in this field of study.
As a kid, Louise spent a lot of time running around in
ancient fossil beds and getting bored. She thought of
rebelling against her fossil-hunting folks and doing
something else, but she gave in to her true passion: old
bones.
The “southern ape of the lake” is thought to be our first
ancestor, an ape that walked on two legs rather than four.
Hairy, four feet tall, with long arms and short legs – this
ape was no genius. But, by walking on two legs he took a
step toward becoming human.
Why was walking on two legs such a big deal? Well,
our earliest ancestors couldn’t carry anything in their
hands. They would not have been able to use their hands
to write, throw a ball, or click the mouse on your
computer before they became bipedal. On the open
grasslands near Lake Turkana four million years ago,
walking on two legs became the key to survival for our
furry forefathers.

8
 Over the next six weeks, as we cycle down the Rift
Valley, we’ll also take a 4 million-year trip through time.
We’ll visit ancient fossil sites and meet interesting
characters. For example, Paranthropus, an “ape-man,”
looked a bit like a Klingon from Star Trek, with a bony
ridge down the middle of his head to support huge jaw
muscles. You’ll help me explore the factors that led to our
evolution as a species from ape to Einstein. What were the
key stages in this process of becoming human? Was it the
use of tools? Language? Art?
Finally, we’ll look at a question that’s really important
to all of us, and especially to you folks who can still count
your age on two hands (while standing on two legs!):
Where are we heading and what is our future?

Don’t Let Anyone Get Your Goat

Lokichar, Kenya – Different cultures have different
values. Your priority might be your new pair of Nike Air
sneakers. For the Turkana, their animals are everything.
Ask a Turkana what his favorite food is and he’ll tell you:
goat meat. His favorite drink: goat blood. You want to
marry that cute Turkana girl? That’ll be 50 goats, please! A
man without goats or cattle or camels in Turkana country
is dead meat, plain and simple.
Yesterday, while taking a break from the midday sun, I
spotted a lone traveler coming along the road. He
appeared as a mirage, fading in and out of heat waves. He
stopped before us, an old Turkana man wearing a knit hat
with a feather in it, a striped cloak draped over his pencil-
thin frame. Like a built-in odometer, his leathery feet and
tattered shoes revealed the miles he’d covered.
He had been walking for ten days, and had eaten his
last bit of corn meal a week ago. I gave him all I had to

9
offer – a melted apple-cinnamon Power Bar – which he
promptly devoured. He was on his way to collect a debt
of goats, some 60 miles away. Like other Turkana, a
people who have thirty different verbs for walking, he
thought nothing of covering 120 miles on foot, with only
his walking stick, stool, and a plastic pail of murky
drinking water. His survival and the survival of his family
depended upon getting those goats.
In exchange for the Power Bar, he told me this story:
A while ago, a terrible drought forced people to travel
far and wide in search of water and food for their animals.
A barefoot traveler bid farewell to his family, tied a rope
around the neck of his prize goat and struck off in search
of greener pastures.
Along the road, hiding in the thorn bushes, was a
hungry thief wearing new shoes. He enviously eyed the
traveler’s goat and began to plan how he could steal it. He
ran ahead on the path, put one of his shoes out in the
middle of the road, and hid again in the bushes. The
traveler arrived at the spot and admired the lone shoe.
Instead of picking it up, however, he left it behind. He knew
that one shoe would do him no good.
The thief retrieved his shoe and again ran ahead of the
traveler. This time, he took off the other shoe and put it in
the road. Again, he hid in the bushes. The traveler arrived
at the spot where the thief was hidden. He was so excited to
find the second shoe that he abandoned his goat, left the
shoe there and ran back to get the first one! With that, the
thief sprang out of the bushes, grabbed his shoe and the
goat and headed on his way, whistling happily.
When the traveler realized he’d been tricked, he felt like
a fool. He went home to his family, a broken man.

So the question for you to consider is…What are your

priorities? Would you risk something your family thought

10
was important so that you could have something flashy or
cool?

Hippos and Handy Men

Lake Baringo, Kenya – I didn’t sleep well last night.
Hippos were snorting outside my tent, and the mosquitoes
were working overtime to drain my blood. In the middle
of the night, I woke to go to my forest toilet, and stepped
out of my tent. Six snow-white Vervet monkeys appeared,
like angels with tails, enjoying a funky monkey party in
the nearby trees.
The morning was spent in a boat stalking hippos,
crocodiles, and fish eagles with the team. Inspired by our
great finds, I decided to go into the hills in search of an
archaeological adventure. I knew there were important
human fossil sites near Lake Baringo. Our young boat
guides, Simon and Moses, said they knew where the sites
were located.
We struck off by bike, pedaled seven miles into the
thorns and heat, and came upon some tell-tale trenches
left behind by paleontologists. The site was high on a
barren ridge looking out over a deep eroding valley of
volcanic boulders. Small bone fragments and cornflake-
sized scraps of worked stone littered the ground. When
the scientists leave a dig site, it is as exciting as an empty
baseball stadium – you have to imagine people and action
back into the scene.
This is where Dr. Andrew Hill of Yale University found
a piece of skull belonging to the earliest true human. Our
ancestor was called Homo habilis, nicknamed the “handy
man.” The bone Dr. Hill found is about 2 ½ million years
old! You know how the handy man, or woman, of your
house likes to go out in the garage and tinker with tools?

11
Well, Homo habilis was the first of our ancestors to hang
out in his prehistoric garage, using tools. Tool use was a
major leap in evolution.
Last week, I talked about the importance of walking on
two feet. One of the benefits of walking on two feet,
rather than four, is that you have your hands free to carry
stuff, grab things, pick your nose…whatever. About two
and a half million years ago, people began putting their
hands to good use by making stone tools.
Figuring out how to make useful cutting tools from
scraps of stone took a fair bit of intelligence. As
anthropologist Kathy Schick puts it, “Experimenting with
different shapes of stone tools represents the earliest form
of science.”
First, the “handy man” had to find the right type of
stone. It often traveled as far as eight miles to find good
volcanic boulders. Then, “handy man” had to know a bit
of geometry and physics, so he (or she) could hit the
stone in just the right way to get the right shape of tool.
He had to imagine what tool he wanted and devise a plan
to shape it in the right way.
These are the same thinking skills that engineers now
use to build bridges, planes and computers…and it all
began here, in the area surrounding Lake Baringo, 2 ½
million years ago!
Why were tools such an important invention? Well,
sharp flakes and choppers helped the handy man eat
better. He could scavenge meat from dead animals he
found as he strolled through the savanna (sounds yummy,
huh?). Using his bigger brain and new tools, the handy
man could break open an animal bone and eat the fat
inside. One bone was a delicacy that would provide an
entire day’s calories and nutrition (like a prehistoric Power
Bar!).

12
 There’s a common saying that “you are what you eat.”
This was just as true for our distant ancestors as it is for us
now. Our big, smart brains use about 20% of our body’s
energy, a higher percentage of energy than any other
animal’s brain uses. As our brains got bigger, they also got
hungrier and needed more and better food to satisfy them.
With better and better tools we were able to get better
and better food to eat, which allowed our brains to get
bigger, which allowed us to make even better tools and
eventually…to speak and communicate.
So, think twice before you eat your next Twinkie!

When We Lived Forever

Tangul Bei, Kenya – It was one of those days when
everything goes wrong. We rolled into the tiny Pokot
village of Tangul Bei, searching for food, and found none.
Then it rained. The blackest storm clouds I’ve ever seen
rolled over the hills and the skies opened onto our heads.
The town’s one and only street turned into a muddy
streambed. By the time the roads were dry enough to
cycle on, it was too dark to continue and we had to look
for shelter.
On the very top of the hill, a silver-roofed house with a
cross glistened – the Catholic mission. I knew that if I
asked for a place to pitch my tent, the mission couldn’t
turn me away. So we squished our way up the muddy
slopes to the mission on the hill.
When we reached the top of the hill, Father Paul
Leyden greeted us from his neat porch. He was looking
out over Africa’s misty hills, sipping a drink, and reading a
fat book. He took one look at me, with my heavy
mountain bike and muddy clothes, and said, “I suppose
you’ll be needing a place to stay.”

13
 He led us to a guest house and a dry camping area. We
all slept well and long in our cozy perch high above the
valley floor. The next morning, he invited us for a tea,
bread, and jam breakfast. We started discussing American
politics, but the conversation drifted to the Pokot people.
Father Paul has been living among the Pokot for 18
months. I asked him about the beliefs of the Pokot. After
seeing the men with bows and knifes the previous day on
the road, I was especially interested in death.
Father Paul told me that, for the Pokot, death is the
enemy and everyone is terrified of it. When a man dies,
he is buried in silence. Even family members avoid
touching the body for fear of contaminating themselves
with death.
The Pokot don’t have much sense of life after death,
though they do believe in an underworld, where the
ancestors live. Termite mounds, which appear on the side
of the road like massive sand castles, are believed to be
entrances to this underworld. They are places to
communicate with relatives who have passed away. Father
Paul has even seen locals burning grasses on top of these
mounds, making a kind of offering.
According to a Pokot myth, people used to live forever,
until they made a terrible mistake:

In the beginning there was no death. This is the story of

how death came into the world.
There was once a man known as Leeyio. Leeyio was the
first man made by Tororot, father of the sky. Tororot called
Leeyio and said to him, “When a man dies and you bury
him, you must remember to say, ‘Man die and come back
again, moon die and stay away.’”
Several months passed before anyone died. Eventually a
neighbor’s child died and Leeyio was summoned to bury
the body. When he took the body outside, he made a

14
mistake and said, “Moon die and come back again, man
die and stay away.” After that, no man survived death.
A few more months passed, and Leeyio’s own child died.
Leeyio took his child’s body outside and said, “Moon die
and stay away, man die and come back again.”
On hearing this, Torerot said to Leeyio, “You are too late
now. For, through your own mistake, death was born the
day your neighbor’s child died.”

That is how death came about. And that is why, to this

day, when a man dies he does not return. But, when the
moon dies, it always comes back again.

From Babble to Scrabble

Central Rift Valley, Kenya – “Eck!!” A small male

baboon shrieks. He scampers down the rocks, looking
over his shoulder. The Incredible Hulk of baboons is
behind him.
Dr. Shirley Strum gives a play-by-play commentary, like
a TV sportscaster on Monday Night Football. She calls the
baboons by name. “Looks like Caterpillar just threatened
Wiggle. Wiggle tried to get too close to Rebecca,
Caterpillar’s friend.”
“Grunt! Oorgh!” says Caterpillar.
“Rebecca’s grooming Caterpillar now. He’s expressing
pleasure – it feels good to be groomed.”
Christina, Tom and I stand by, impressed by Dr.
Strum’s knowledge. We watch as the warm morning light
creeps over the rocks. Dr. Strum, an anthropologist, has
been studying baboon society for over 20 years. She
knows each of the baboons by name, and has learned
how to read their expressions and behavior. She tells us

15
that baboons can’t form words or speak like humans, but
they still have ways to communicate how they’re feeling.
Using grunts, screeches, and body language, they can
tell each other they are excited, afraid, happy, hungry, or
depressed.
Baboons have pretty complicated social lives. Baboons
have to cooperate with one other to survive. They need to
be able to communicate well to avoid conflict and work
together. Not too different from humans...or is it?
The evolution of language was an important step in
becoming human. With language, early humans could
hunt together, discuss the day’s events, and plan for the
days and months ahead. Without language… err! Ungh!
Arrh!!
The fact is, only humans use spoken language. Looking
at the baboons, I try to imagine the first time a human
spoke. What did she say? Probably something like, “My
head is itchy.” When did humans first speak? It’s hard to
guess when all you have are a bunch of ancient fossils.
Scientists get clues by looking at the insides of fossil
skulls. They think that as long ago as 1.5 million years, an
early human called Homo erectus might have been able to
talk a little. Homo erectus probably even said a few things
like, “That’s my handaxe!” But scientists think it wasn’t
until the arrival of fully modern man, Homo sapiens, that
people made full use of language. If this is true, people
were able to tell stories, make jokes, and describe the
beauty and dangers of the world around them starting
about 100,000 years ago.
What’s keeping those clever baboons from speaking?
One factor is their brain size. Baboon brains are larger
than the brains of most primates, but a lot smaller than
what we’ve got knocking around in our heads. Humans
also have the right kind of larynx, or voice box. In non-
human mammals, the voice box is high in the neck. Its

16
high position limits the ability to form complex sounds
and speak. In adult humans, though, the voice box is
deep down in the throat. The position of our larynx lets us
talk until we’re blue in the face.
As you know, humans are special because we walk on
two legs rather than on four. You also now know that
walking on two legs freed our hands to make and carry
tools. So, it seems that walking and talking are related as
key pieces of what makes humans a unique species.
I was thinking of the connection between art and being
human while we were hanging with the baboons. I asked
Dr. Strum, “Do these baboons have the ability to make art?
Do they at least have some artistic sense?”
Dr. Strum shook her head. “No. None whatsoever.”
I scratched my head, grunted, and ambled away, with a
sense of relief. I still have one up on the monkeys!

How the Elephant Became Wild

Samburu, Kenya – I traveled to a Samburu village in
search of a wise elder who could share a good legend for
this week. When I saw Mzee Lempuna’s bright orange
Nike cap with the gold lettering, I somehow knew I had
found the person I was looking for.
Along with his hat, Mzee Lempuna wore the bright red
traditional dress of his people. I interrupted his bau game
and asked him to tell me a story. Bau is a little like
checkers and different versions are played throughout
Africa. He agreed to talk with me.
We firmly shook hands, and exchanged greetings
neither of us understood. In the nearby school, we
squeezed ourselves into little desks designed for 8-year-
olds. I opened my little notebook, where I’d jotted down
some questions. I was about to begin the interview, but

17
first I had to ask, “So, Lempuna, what’s up with the Nike
hat?”
He laughed, flashing his crooked white teeth. “It was a
gift from a friend. Do you like it?”
I said I thought it suited him quite well (which was no
lie) and then got down to the business of legends.
The Samburu people respect elephants more than they
respect any other living creature. Elephants are powerful
symbols in their culture. In the old days, before the illegal
ivory trade began to threaten elephants, the Samburu used
ivory to protect them from harm. They made small ivory
charms from the tusks of an elephant that had died
naturally in the wild. These charms were hung around the
necks of newborn babies to protect them throughout their
life.
When a young Samburu couple marries, a pile of
elephant dung is burned on the floor of their house to
bless them with a long marriage and a happy life together.
I asked Lempuna if he would share his favorite story
about elephants. He ceremoniously removed his Nike hat,
placed it carefully next to his stick, and began talking.
Here is the story he told:

In this land a long time ago, the people and wild

animals were friends and worked together. The elephant
was the biggest and strongest of creatures. It was also one
of the most helpful of all the animals. When the women of
the village needed firewood hauled to their houses, they
would ask the elephants to help.
One day, a woman needed firewood, so she asked one
of the elephants to bring wood from the forest. The elephant
happily agreed to help, and headed off into the woods.
After several hours, the elephant returned. He brought just
a small trunkful of the nicest branches he could find. The
woman wasn’t satisfied and complained to the elephant.

18
 “You’re the biggest and strongest of all the animals and
this is the best you can do? This is barely enough to keep a
mouse warm for the evening!”
The elephant couldn’t understand why the woman was
so upset, but he promised to do a better job next time.
The following day, the woman asked the elephant to
gather firewood again. This time the elephant was
determined to make up for his earlier mistake. He came
back that evening dragging several large trees, roots and
all.
“What am I supposed to do with these?” complained the
woman. “They’re far too large to be of any use! Why can’t
you just do what I asked?”
Hearing the woman complain again, the elephant got
mad. He decided to leave the village for good and to go off
into the wild. In the wild, he wouldn’t have to suffer the
constant complaints of the woman. As he left, he turned to
the woman and warned, “When we meet again, we will be
enemies.”
As he left, he angrily stripped the woman’s house of its
cowhide shingles. He made the shingles into the floppy ears
you still see on elephants today.

From that day on, elephants were wild. The people

came to fear, respect and admire them. But people and
elephants will never again live together as they did many
years ago.

Hand Axe Heaven

Magadi, Kenya – “This is the site of the great baboon
slaughter!” exclaims Dr. Mzalendo Kibunjia. We walk up
to an area covered with tools and bones. The artifacts are
about 900,000 years old.

19
 Dr. Kibunjia is a Kenyan archaeologist who studies the
earliest tools made by humans. He believes that these
tools hold the key to understanding the minds of our early
ancestors. Today he guided us to Olorgesailie, one of the
most important archaeological sites in the world.
Archaeologists like Dr. Kibunjia have been digging up
bones and tools here for the last 50 years.
Biking from the Nairobi area to Olorgesailie was like an
amusement park ride. We plunged off of the edge of the
Rift escarpment and entered this hot and dry lowland
basin, where Homo erectus lived and hunted almost a
million years ago.
Olorgesailie is a tough name to get your tongue
around. It’s a Maasai word that means “place of the
Giselik people.” No one knows exactly who these people
were, but many think they were hunter-gatherers. They
probably lived here until several centuries ago, when they
were pushed aside by farmers and herders.
For almost a million years, this place was home to
people who made their living hunting, scavenging meat
from other animals’ kills, and gathering nearby plants. The
hunter-gatherer way of life is quickly dying off. In fact,
there’s only one true hunter-gatherer culture left in East
Africa.
It’s hard to imagine that this bone dry place used to be
a lake. As we walked through Olorgesailie in the midday
heat, Dr. Kibunjia painted a picture of the site as it looked
a million years ago.
“Back then this was all lake,” he said, sweeping his
hand across the horizon. “The volcanoes you see were
active then, belching clouds of ash into the air. The
lakeshores would have been bustling with now-extinct
animals. These animals were the early relatives of today’s
elephants, hippos, and zebra. This was a good place for
Homo erectus to find his dinner.”

20
 Everywhere we walk there are piles of stone hand-
axes. These tools were the Swiss Army knives of Homo
erectus. The remains of over 50 baboon-like animals have
been found here by archaeologists.
When I think about these ancient baboons, I like to
imagine the following scene: It’s early morning and a
troop of now-extinct giant baboons (as big as your
average 8-year-old kid) are minding their own business.
They’re having a morning grooming session by the
lakeside. Suddenly, they’re ambushed by a group of
hominids who sweep down from the hills. The hominids
smash the baboons’ heads in, and then cut them up for a
baboon buffet.
These hominids, like their descendants for the next
890,000 years, lived as part of nature. They killed animals
and gathered plants as they needed supplies and food.
Here at Olorgesailie, Homo erectus was just another
animal, even if it was the cleverest animal on the block.
About 10,000 years ago this scenario changed forever.
People invented something that altered the course of both
human history and the history of the environment:
agriculture. Humans were the first animals to take control
of their food. The people of about 10,000 years ago tamed
(domesticated) plants and animals and made them bend to
human needs. With agriculture, humans made a break
with nature and began to see themselves as a species
apart, destined to control the world around them.
There’s no doubt that agriculture made life easier in
many ways. Growing crops meant that people had much
more food right nearby. They also knew when the food
would be available, and could store food for hard times.
People started to settle in one place and build a sense of
community. They had free time to develop pottery, metal
crafts, and art. In fact, a lot of what we call “progress” can
be traced to these changes. But agriculture also caused a

21
lot of problems, ones that we’re still dealing with today.
What is the worst problem? Population explosion!
The population of the world when farming began was
about 10 million. Right now, the world population is
bursting at 5 billion. Ten million people live in New York
City alone. As people settled down to farm, they crowded
into villages and towns. Their health often suffered from
the change in lifestyle.
Cholera, measles, tuberculosis, leprosy, smallpox,
plague, and even dental problems (like cavities) started to
affect people. These diseases arose from changes in diet
and lifestyle that started 10,000 years ago. Some of these
diseases became problems because of more crowded
living conditions. When people live near one another, it’s
easier to pass germs around. Warfare increased too as
people started fighting over valuable farm and grazing
land.
Maybe the greatest change of all is in the way we look
at nature. Nature seems separate from human beings. To
many people, it is something we visit on vacation. We
don’t even think of ourselves as animals any more.
As I sit here in the shadow of Mt. Olorgesailie, tapping
away on my laptop, I feel sadly disconnected from the
being who formed the hand-axes that litter the ground
behind me. Our tools have changed and so have we. At
least I think we have. Do you?

Finding Tales Where You Least Expect

Them
Arusha, Tanzania – We were in a dingy hotel in Arusha,
Tanzania. It was one of those places where the toilets
don’t flush, and mosquitoes bite you all night. Right after I

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checked in, I realized that I hadn’t found a legend yet this
week.
If you’ve been reading this feature every week, you
know I usually find my legends on some village path or
outside the hut of an elder. This week, I found the legend
in a parking lot – the one right outside this nasty hotel.
There, guarding our bikes, I met Ephraim Laibon. Ephraim
was a shy, nervous man. He didn’t act like he’d had much
contact with wazungus (white foreigners).
“Do you know where I can meet and talk with some
Maasai people around here?” I asked as I greeted him. I
figured that if I could meet some traditional Maasai in
Arusha, they might have a legend for me.
“Sure,” he responded in very good English. “There’s a
cultural center outside of town where they do traditional
dances and make crafts.”
“Actually, are there Maasai here in town who I can talk
to?”
He thought about it carefully. “No.”
Disappointed, I asked him, “So, what cultural group are
you from?”
“I’m Maasai.”
On the surface, there’s nothing about Ephraim that says
“Maasai.” While working his all-night job here at the hotel,
he wears an ordinary jacket, shirt, and slacks. He doesn’t
have earrings or jewelry or droopy ear lobes. But he has
stories to tell.
We pulled up a couple of plastic chairs and sat out in
the moonlight. Ephraim was clearly pleased to be asked
about Maasai traditions. He became animated the minute
he began to talk. He told me all about Maasai traditions,
and then launched into this very personal story about his
father’s special encounter with a lion.

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 Many years ago, my father and his father owned many
cattle and lived in the hills on the edge of the forest. His
home, like all traditional Maasai homes, was built around
the boma. A boma is a thorn corral where the cattle are
kept safe at night.
One dark, moonless night when my father, Longida,
was just a child, a strong wind blew in over the hills. The
empty water gourds outside the hut fell down and began
knocking around. The cows began to rustle about, and
their bells rang out, “Clang, clang.” Longida awoke with a
strange feeling that something wasn’t right, so he stepped
cautiously into the cold night air.
When Longida’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he was able
to make out the form of a lion. The lion was standing still
against the thorn fence. The beast growled, and Longida
stepped back slowly. Then the lion sat back on its haunches
and held up its paw. This gesture made Longida feel oddly
at ease. He ever-so-slowly approached the lion, closer and
closer, until he could see a long acacia thorn sticking out
from the lion’s paw.
His heart beat fast in his chest. Longida walked towards
the lion until he was close enough to feel the lion purr and
smell his musty breath. With his hand shaking, Longida
reached out, pulled the thorn from the lion’s paw and
quickly stepped back.
With that, the lion turned to walk away. It looked over
its shoulder, beckoning Longida to follow. The lion walked
into the bush, looking back every several feet to make sure
Longida was following. He led the boy to a clearing where
a gazelle had been freshly killed. The lion stopped as if to
offer him the meat to Longida as a gift, and then stalked off
into the night.
Longida woke his family, and told them his fabulous
story, but nobody believed him. They did enjoy the meat,
though!

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 I thanked Ephraim for one of the best myths I’d
collected so far.
“No, you don’t understand,” he replied impatiently.
“What I’ve told you is no myth. It happened exactly how I
told it.”

Civilization Can Be Uncivilized

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania – It’s 8:00 PM, and I’ve
just arrived at Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is one of the
natural wonders of the world. It’s a 20 square kilometer
area of lush vegetation. It contains the highest
concentration of large wildlife in the world. And I’m
miserable. Everywhere you go armed guards with rifles
watch as you pass through security gates. None of this
makes me feel very close to nature.
We just spent $390 to enter the park. We’re camping
on an open field littered with elephant dung. I’m told we
have a great view of the crater from our campsite, but
right now I can’t see much of anything. It’s pitch black
and freezing cold.
Getting here was more fun and far more interesting
than being here. We left the Maasai Girl’s School yesterday
morning, and set out on a two-day intensive bike journey.
Our journey took us through the Tanzanian homeland of
the Maasai people. We biked over rolling hills, into the
land of the baobab tree. We then climbed over 3,000 feet
up the Rift escarpment onto a much cooler, forested
plateau.
Just as we started the climb, we met newly initiated
Maasai morani, or warriors. Dressed entirely in black with
elaborate white masks painted on their faces, they looked
a bit like Halloween trick-or-treaters. When Maasai boys
enter adulthood, they go through a special ceremony.

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After the ceremony, the boys become warriors. For several
weeks, they must live away from their families. They
spend this time together out in the bush, until they are
brought back into society.
After five weeks of opening my Compaq computer
almost every day to write something, I really enjoyed the
freedom of biking through the wilderness. At night, we
camped under a full moon. Wild animals roamed nearby,
and I left my computer in its case while I watched them. I
spent evenings lying on my back, looking at the night sky.
One night I saw a shooting star fall from the center of the
sky. It streaked all the way to the horizon.
Watching the star fall, it struck me that one of my
ancestors could have seen the exact same spectacle a
million years ago. But it was different back then. A million
years ago was long before agriculture, cities, and money
had been invented. It was long before everything got so
organized.
In fact, the environment of Ngorongoro Crater, where I
am right now, is probably like the environment our
African ancestors lived in over two million years ago.
Then again, the paleontologist who suggested this, Dr.
Robert Blumenschine, probably wasn’t thinking about
what’s going on here today. I doubt he thought of the
security guards, gift shops, safari vehicles, foreign money,
and exclusive lodges that are taking over Ngorongoro
when he made his comparison.
The cars, gift shops, and money are all products of
modern society. Things like these have only been around
for about 5,000 years. That was when civilizations, such as
Mesopotamia, started up in different parts of the world.
That’s when some people began to amass more wealth
and power than others. That’s when the “haves” started
separating themselves from the “have-nots.”

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 The young Maasai morani we met on the road are a
good example of the “have-nots.” I asked them what
Ngorongoro was like. Their reply shocked me. They said,
“We’ve never been there. They don’t let us in without
permits.”
For centuries, the Maasai have lived in this area. They
have grazed their cattle here, and performed rituals on
nearby mountains and at sacred fig trees. Then, in 1959,
the government took their land away. They decided to set
up a National Park. Army troops went into the crater and
burned houses or tore the houses down. They dumped
the people’s belongings on the rim of the crater. They
claimed that Maasai cattle were destroying the habitats of
wild animals. Today it’s a lot easier for a tourist to enter
Ngorongoro than it is for a Maasai to enter the park.
It’s hard for me to believe that 150,000 tourists a year in
20,000 vehicles do less damage to the environment than a
few hundred Maasai and their animals! Alas, civilization is
a mixed bag.
Civilization, which was born over 5,000 years ago in
Mesopotamia, brought lots of benefits: monumental
architecture, writing and numerical systems, and laws. In
fact, when we think of the greatest advances of world
history we think of civilizations like Greece, China, Egypt,
and the Maya. All of these civilizations developed around
cities. None of them would have worked without a ruling
class to make laws.
Civilization, though, has often been built on the backs
of people who did not rule. Great buildings, such as
Mayan temples and Egyptian pyramids, were built by
people who didn’t have a voice in the rules and laws of
their nation. These people were either slaves or they were
used as cheap labor. The hard work of many people
served the interests of a powerful few. With civilization
came inequality and class differences. The story of the

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Maasai here at Ngorongoro is a perfect example of class
difference.
A full moon has come up while I’ve been writing. It’s
casting a magical blue light over Ngorongoro Crater and
Lake Manyara below. Unfortunately, it’s drowned out by
the brighter and more demanding bluish light of my
computer screen – yet another product of civilization.

Simboya and the Famine

Mangola, Tanzania – Mangola is a small, dusty town of
flat-roofed shacks and dirt streets. At first glance, it doesn’t
look too friendly, so I asked Mike and Beth to help me on
my weekly quest for a myth.
We asked a Barabaig woman, one of the farming
peoples who live here. She frowned. “People used to
gather under the trees in the evening and tell stories. Not
any more.”
It was a hot afternoon. A scorching wind hurled fistfuls
of sand into our eyes. I was imagining strolling through
autumn leaves with Amelia, my little girl, strapped to my
back. We wandered around for a while longer. Close to
giving up, we spotted a group of older men sitting in the
shade on an old truck tire. “Karibu,” one of them called
out in Swahili as we passed.
“Welcome!” It seemed like a good start, so I walked
over to the men.
Among the group was Tarmo Baka, a tough and wiry
man of 55, dressed in ragged third-hand clothes. His
people are known as the Iraqw. They are a local group
who herd and farm for a living. According to Tarmo, they
originally lived as far north as Ethiopia. Centuries ago,
they traveled through the Rift Valley to their present home
in Tanzania.

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 We all crowded into a small sliver of shade next to a
hut. “I will now tell you the story of Simboya,” Tarmo
began confidently. Here is the story he told:

A long time ago there was a young boy named Simboya

who had an older brother named Ngaida. It was a time of
famine, and their father sent them into the wilderness to
find food. Deep in the bush they came upon an elephant
that had fallen into a trap.
The elephant looked up from the trap and pleaded with
the boys, “Save me! Save me!”
Simboya freed the elephant, which made his brother
very angry. “How can you be so foolish to let our dinner go
so easily? Would you let your family go hungry?!” Simboya
felt bad and offered to go without food so Ngaida could eat
more, so long as he would promise that not to tell their
father about the elephant.
After several days passed, Simboya’s father asked him,
“Simboya, why are you getting so thin?” Ngaida couldn’t
hold back. He blurted out the whole story about Simboya
and the elephant. The boy’s father was very angry with
Simboya. The next day, while they were out collecting
honey from the trees, he and Ngaida pulled away the
ladder. They left Simboya stranded in the tree.
After days in the tree without food, Simboya’s bones
began to show. One day, weak with starvation, he saw an
elephant pass beneath him. “Hey, do you know an elephant
who is a little smaller than you? It has long ears.” he called
out. “It once got caught in a trap near here.”
“Oh yes, I know him,” recalled the elephant. “He should
pass this way soon.”
Some hours later, Simboya’s elephant friend passed
below. “What happened, Simboya?” called the elephant,
with distress.

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 “I’m being tortured for freeing you from the trap. Can
you help me?”
The elephant paced around the tree all day and night,
thinking and thinking. In the morning he proposed a plan.
“Can you spit on my back?” he asked. Simboya spat in the
middle of the elephant’s back, forming a small pool.
“Good,” said the elephant. “Now spit again, and then
jump.”
Simboya gathered a huge gob and spat. Then he leapt
from the tree and landed with a splash in the pool of spit
on the elephant’s back. The elephant took Simboya back to
his home. The elephant lived in Seya Habarkari, which
means ‘the place of the trees.’ There the elephant gave the
boy cattle, and found him a wife.
Some years later, Simboya began to miss his family. He
sent a little bird off with a message for them to come to
him. They arrived, crying with happiness to see Simboya
alive and well. He forgave them, and they lived the rest of
their days together in Seya Habakari.”

When Tarmo finished with his story, he stood up to

stretch his legs. I told him how happy I was to have found
such a wonderful story after my long search, and asked
him what he thought its message was. He looked to his
neighbor sitting next to him, who responded with a shrug.
“It always pays to help someone in trouble, doesn’t it?”
So…What Makes Us Human?
Lake Eyasi, Tanzania – A few hours ago, I was bounding
through thorn bushes, trying to keep up with two young
Hadza hunters. Stocky and agile, they wore a combination
of animal skins and blue jeans. They sprinted over the
savanna, chasing down a Vervet monkey.
Moments later, they trapped the monkey high in an
acacia tree. They then shot it with three poisonous arrows.

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It dropped to the ground at my feet with a sickening thud.
I must admit I felt bad for that monkey which, after all, is
my distant cousin.
Back at their camp, the hunters threw the poor primate
into the fire. When it was cooked, the two hunters and
their family ate the monkey like kids chowing down a
Happy Meal. Watching this scene, it could have been easy
to think that these people were somehow “less evolved”
than I am. I couldn’t help but feel superior, with my
clothes, technology, and refined tastes.
I snapped out of it when I turned to see a little girl
adorned with colorful beads. She toddled up to her daddy
and into his outstretched hands. He smiled the widest
smile and hugged his little girl to his chest. He kissed her
and made her giggle by blowing on her belly. I’ve played
the same game many times with my daughter Amelia. In
that private moment, I saw something about what makes
us all human. And I realized how similar we all are.
You could say that our first step in this AfricaQuest
journey began over five million years ago when our
ancestors stood up and walked on two feet. Bipedalism
freed our hands to make and use tools two million years
ago. Good tools led to greater success with hunting and
gathering food. As we ate better, our brains grew. We
became intelligent masters of the world around us. Later,
modern humans began to speak, as early as 100,000 years
ago. Thousands of years later, we created art and religion
to make sense of the world around us.
Humans took the next big step when they invented
agriculture and herding, around 10,000 years ago. That’s
when we began to control nature. Rivers became sources
of power, forests became firewood, and land became
something to fight over. Populations expanded to cover
even the most remote parts of the globe. Cities grew, trade

31
flourished, and money was invented. Rulers began to rule.
The modern world that we live in began to take shape.
Today human beings are facing some major changes.
The world now supports over five billion people. Many of
us live very well. We live in houses, drive cars, and wear
nice clothes. Technology makes our lives even easier.
Remember, I’m sitting in the backwoods of Africa writing
this. Where are you reading it? Look around at your
surroundings. Life is pretty good, isn’t it?
But have we come too far?
We humans have learned to dominate our environment
to the point where nature seems at our disposal. With five
billion people on earth, forests are disappearing. Wildlife
is dying off, and pollution is a growing problem. The
developed world, including the U.S., uses 27 times as
many natural resources as people in the Third World.
How long can the earth support this way of life?
Despite these disturbing facts, I’m optimistic about our
future. My time in Africa has made me even more so.
Everywhere we’ve traveled, Africans have treated us with
kindness and generosity. I can’t count how many times
we’ve landed in someone’s yard at night. We’ve been tired
and dirty, needing shelter and food, and have been
welcomed into their homes.
Six weeks ago I posed a mystery: what makes us
human? Well, you’ve helped me explore a few
possibilities. First, we can learn from the past and plan for
the future. I’ve shown you how we can look deep into
our past. Can’t we also plan thoughtfully for our future?
Second, we stand out from other animals because we can
cooperate and work together. But perhaps it’s our capacity
for love and compassion that are our most important traits.
Over the history of humankind, love and compassion
have allowed us to develop bonds. These bonds have
brought together families, tribes, and nations.

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 The future definitely hangs in the balance. What will
allow us to survive? I think I saw an answer in the eyes of
that Hadza father.

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John Fox is an anthropologist and writer
who has excavated ancient ball courts in
Central America, traced Marco Polo’s route
across China, and biked Africa’s Rift Valley
in search of human origins. He has written
about his research and adventures for
Smithsonian Magazine, Outside Magazine,
Salon and other publications. John has
appeared on Good Morning America from
the top of a Maya pyramid, as well as on
NBC Nightly News, BBC’s The World, and
other programs. He contributes regular
cultural commentaries on Vermont Public
Radio and is affiliated faculty at the SIT
Graduate Institute.

To purchase this book, please visit

http://www.northshire.com/siteinfo/b
ookinfo/9781605710112/0/.

To contact the author for public

speaking or other opportunities, please
email
john@flying-pencil.com

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