Daily News Channel
The region of Ethiopia called the Middle Awash, some 140 miles northeast of the capital of Addis Ababa, is a hot, harsh and inhospitable place–a rocky desert punctuated by tree-lined rivers, the occasional lake and patches of lava that are slowly being buried by sediments flushed out of the hills by the torrential rains that come along twice a year. But between 5 million and 6 million years ago, the landscape here was very different.
Nestled in the golden bush grass of an open savanna, a black rhinoceros lies on her side. Her head is haloed by a dried pool of blood.
Visitors board Simba One, an oversize tram that will take you on a safari through “the Serengeti grassland system,” and as one fellow steps into the open-air vehicle, he asks, “Is it air-conditioned?” No, mate, this is reality. Real crocodiles lazing primordially below that rickety bridge
It’s a jungle out there. Well, not really: it’s worse than a jungle.