About 3 million years ago our history began not far from these mountains, in the Rift Valley, because there at that time the famous Lucy lived. She belonged to a group of primates that, for unknown reasons, had the privilege to develop into "Homo sapiens..... ....This four-lane highway, which the Chinese built from Mekele to the Dankali Desert, is of little use to the local population, as only a few goat herders live here. ... Ethiopia is now trying to catch up with the economic upswing and finally leave behind its archaic ways of life, which for thousands of years have only progressed at a donkey's or camel's pace. As for the caravans, a world that managed without oil but set limits to economic growth is disappearing.