The wooded grassland habitats of east Africa are the cradle of humanity. For generation upon generation, humans, and before them their hominin predecessors, have lived on these savannahs. And in doing so, they would have spent their days attuned to the natural sounds around them, listening for both opportunities and dangers.
This recording brings you the morning from a location where open woodlands border the edge of a seasonal lake. It is easy to imagine early humans living in an abundant environment such as this.
At first light, a pair of African Fish Eagles soar overhead, their evocative cries echoing across the landscape. Gradually, a chorus of woodland birds awakes and gives song, underpinned by the rolling cooing of doves. In the distance, the grunts of hippopotamus and calls of waterbirds are heard from the open water of the lake. In the trees around, sunbirds, starlings, rollers, hornbills, lorikeets and brubrus sing, while choruses of spur fowl erupt occasionally. At one point, a giraffe walks close by, scuffing the ground with its hooves.
This soundscape is the same as our distant ancestors would have known. In listening, we're hearing their world.