For a moment, let’s just forget about it all…
I’ve been excited to sit down and write about this place since we arrived, but now that I have sat down to do so, I find myself at a loss for words.
I am currently in the most extraordinary place on Earth. We are in Turkana, in the great rift valley, currently living in the place where most of the original hominin fossils have been found.
Turkana is otherworldly. We fly there in a tiny plane, moving with surprising ease from Nairobi to Lodwar. Though we disembark expecting the heat to hit with a force similar to a hairdryer held at high volume, we arrive to a runway shrouded in shade. The air hangs heavy with moisture. Turkana is a desert. We have arrived after a heavy rain, the first in three months, and though the moisture has already evaporated, the ground sings with rivers and rivulets of water recently there.
The tarmac is surrounded by mountains of volcanic rock, tall and shapeless lumps haphazardly strewn across the flat earth. A Jesus Christ Statue, arms outstretched, stands at the top of the mountain. Smaller icons line the path up. The small plane sits forty feet away. One propeller starts, and seconds later, a group of lone goats runs across the tarmac.
I spent the entire drive to Turkana with eyes wide.
In the city we are a one vehicle parade. In the wild, we are infinitesimally small.
The landscape is unreal. Flat plains, light purple and blue, sage green, stretch as far as the eye can see. Dark blue mountains rise like dream world in the distance. Camels graze periodically along the road, trotting to get out of the way of our twenty foot tall jeep. Spotted every half a mile or so are structures shaped like overturned acorns, They are homes, built by the still nomadic Turkana people. Because it is dusk, each glows a red orange from the bottom, lit by fire within. A few miles in we see women pulling water home. They wear dresses of vibrant purple and have necklaces stacked by sternum to chin. Mostly, however, the landscape is empty, vast, extraordinarily beautiful. I am so struck with wonder I have lost the ability to speak.
Where am I?
When we arrive there is a three month old puppy waiting to greet us. We eat dinner at a round table, and spend the evening laughing and talking. We have not even started class here, and I have fallen in love.
What a world.