From Ethiopia to Argentina: Day 1 of a 7-year walk to trace man’s global migration

NAIROBI, Kenya –  A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter has taken the first steps of an unimaginably long walk — a journey from Ethiopia to Argentina expected to last seven years.

Paul Salopek departed an Ethiopian village Thursday to begin a planned 21,000-mile (34,000-kilometer) walk that will cross some 30 borders and scores of ethnic groups.

Salopek’s quest is to retrace humankind’s first migration from Africa across the world in a go-slow journey that will force him to immerse in many cultures.

The Ethiopia-to-Argentina walk — which took human ancestors some 50,000 years to make — is called Out of Eden and is sponsored by National Geographic, the Knight Foundation and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Salopek plans to write one major article a year and give periodic updates.