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 * __**Journey of my Ancient Ancestors **__ ||

=**Day 1** =

Africa here I come! - Flight from Buffalo to Gaborone, Botswana. This flight will cost 1,786 plus tax. - Depart at 6:00am arrive at 6:30pm. Spencer Wells traveled to Gaborone to talk with the San Bushmen. He believes that these people are descendents from the oldest ancestors of humans. He based this belief on genetics. Picture from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/photogalleries/journey_of_man/ picture from: [] What is so unique about the San Bushmen is their language. They talk in "clicks." They are also very good hunters and trackers. I stayed with the San Bushmen, sleeping in their homemade huts and ate their food. The busmen eat fruit, berries, tubers, bush onions and other plants. The women are the gatherers and the men are the hunters. They gather ostrich eggs and eat them, then use the shell for water containers. The bushmen eat insects as well. They eat 18 to 104 species including grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and termites.

People that live here are darker because of an increase in melanin in their skin. Melanin is a natural sunscreen that blocks UV light. As people migrated to parts of the world that were colder and with less sun melanin faded out of their skin after many generations. People needed less melanin to absorb more sunlight so that their bodies can synthesize vitamin D.

While I was here I hunted with the Bushmen and played elephant soccer. I went on a safari and saw many animals that you don't see in Western Pennsylvania. It was an amazing experience.

The youtube video link below will show you Spencer Well's journey to meet the San Bushmen. You can hear the San Bushmen's incredible language. media type="youtube" key="c246fZ-7z1w" width="425" height="350"

The first group to leave Africa was from the haplogroup called L3. They first appeared 80,000 years ago. Some of these people went West, some in North Africa and some left Africa completely.

It is believed that humans originated from Africa. The oldest human remains was found in Herto, Ethiopia. They are named Omo I and II. Scientists calculated the age of these fossils to be 195,000 years old. These fossils were dated using potassium-argon dating in 2005.

picture found at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050223122209.htm The picture above are the remains of Omo I and II that were found in Ethiopia.