On the edge of the Serengeti is a black sand dune. It has been there for as long and people can remember. The local Maasai believe the sand comes from a nearby mountain, Oldoni Lengi (The mountain of God). For them, it is sacred ground. It is considered rude to climb the dune. Each year the prevailing wind drives grains of dark volcanic ash up one side and down the other. It forms a particular crescent shape called a barkan.
Each year, the progress of the dune is tracked. Scientists put a tall stick in the ground indicating it’s location. Driving next the the poles is like following a fence line into history. This dune is on a journey across the African savanna. Driven by the hot winds rising off the arid grasslands the individual grains are powerless against the wind. But occasionally a rock or tree or even a shrub is the the way and the tiny speck is stopped. Then another and another pile against the hard stop and form a pile. Eventually, one dune is dissembled and a new one is formed.
In 2008, we drove out to see the dune and saw this skull on the top. Ashes to ashes dust to dust are the traditional words spoken at a graveside. I thought of those words looking at the skull. The dune is within a mile of one of the most famous research digs in the world, the Olduvai Gorge. There Richard Leaky, discovered some of the earliest and most important anthropological fossils. People have been living and dying in that area since there were people. They have been watching the dunes slide by generation after generation.
This year has been a a year of dunes for me. In the fall we were on our social distancing vacation and went to the Grand Sand Dunes National Park. Those dunes don’t travel. They are trapped by mountains. We climbed them and watched people surfing down them. At Christmas, we headed to west Texas and stopped a Monahans State Park. This is a dune filed area over 200 miles long stretching all the way to New Mexico. It is constantly changing. The lone dunes in Africa are unique.
We are all somewhat adrift in the world. Driven by the forces around us. Sometimes our drift can be tracked other times we are staying still, but still falling apart. These dunes exist because they grains of sand have no way to connect to one another. Only the presence of wind pressure and gravity keeps them together. Too often we are adrift because we are alone. We have not connected with others in the kind of relational bonds that helps us be resilient when the wind comes blowing. We can be certain that the strong winds will come. If you do not want to drift away, then you need to be anchored together.