Former Israeli PM falls in with Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge

Tanzania is a place to visit again, says former Israeli Prime Minister and military General Ehud Barak, as he concludes his week-long outstanding tour of the East African country’s northern tourism circuit.

Bidding farewell to his host, the Managing Director of Mauly Tours, Ms. Mozzah Mauly, Mr. Barak vows to come back to the natural resource-rich country to enjoy the breathtaking natural wonder.

“I had a great time, and I need to have it once more in the near future,” he tells Ms. Mozzah, extending his gratitude to her for the exemplary treatment he received throughout his tour.
Ms. Mozzah, a prominent tour operator with a decade of experience handling tourists, mostly from Israel, welcomed Mr. Barak once again, pleading with him to become the Mauly Tours envoy across the world.

“I hope your successful tour will open up the Israel tourism market to Tanzania,” she tells the former Israeli Premier.

Mr. Barak flew back to Tel Aviv from Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) on Monday evening after sampling the fauna and flora which Ngorngoro Conservation Area (NCA) and the Serengeti National Park could offer him.

At the national park, Mr. Barak saw vast numbers of wildebeest accompanied by zebra, Grant’s gazelle, Thompson’s gazelle, eland, and impala moving to the north of the Great Serengeti, seeking fresh grazing and quality water.

Mr. Bariki Mseli, who guided Mr. Barak’s 24-man entourage, says Israel’s high-ranking leader’s love for nature impressed him the most. “Several times he asked me to stop for him to enjoy the landscape and take souvenir pictures. I also enjoyed interacting with him,” Mr. Mseli explained.

While at the NCA, Mr. Barak visited Ngorongoro Crater before proceeding to Olduvai Gorge Museum where remains of an earliest man on Earth were discovered and stored 58 years ago.
The 75-year-old former Israeli special forces commando, Defense Forces Chief of Staff and government minister, says Olduvai Gorge is very important, as it connects the early human being with the modern one.

Gen (rtd.) Barak says he does not regret visiting Olduvai Gorge where the hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock that are 3.6 million years old, and where 3 separate tracks of a small-brained upright-walking early hominid were found.

Excavation mainly by archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey yielded 4 different kinds of hominids at Olduvai Gorge, showing a gradual increase in brain size and in the complexity of their stone tools. The first skull of Zinjanthopus, who lived about 1.75 million years ago, was found at this place.

PHOTO: Tanzania Deputy Minister for Natural Resource and Tourism, Mr. Ramo Makani, shakes hand with Former Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Ehud Barak, at Olduvai Gorge.