A trip to Africa can play a clever trick on your mind. It did for me.

I traveled for 48 hours to get to the Serengeti. I had in fact turned back time by 200,000 years - may be even a million years. Once there, I instantly felt a sense of belonging and connection. All of it, tugs at your heart. But, why? I have wondered. Could it have something to do with our origins?

We know that hominids evolved in the Rift Valley. It is here that our ancestors left the leafy forests to live on plains. Then some 80,000 years ago, a small group of them - from whom all of us have descended - began to migrate out of Africa. Today, 2,000 generations later, Humans occupy every corner of the planet. As it turns out, that is just not enough time for a species like ours to weed out the traits that helped us thrive in Africa for 1000's of years. Therein lies, I think, the keystone to this enigma of belonging. When we replant ourselves into East Africa, may be some of our genes – long dormant through neglect and disuse - find sudden expression. May be from the depths of our consciousness we uncover secrets and rediscover what was once known.

This visiting had such a profound impact on me; an experience that forced me to take in more than what mere senses could handle. In me, it almost provoked a long-suppressed scream. A primal release that proclaimed, “I belong here.” I had indeed returned home.

A new Homegoing. A reaching back in time. A going back to a place that at once felt familiar, but has long been forgotten within the folds of prehistory. And with a sustained jolt it vitiated my sense of time and origin. The curtain drew briefly, clearing the mists of time. And for a short while I glimpsed hidden truths: about our shared planet, about who we are and where we come from, and about our place on this earth.

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