Voyage au Village

A large woman pulled me through the crowd and pushed me through the entrance of a small mud house. It took several seconds for my eyes to adjust the sharp contrast in light, with the large figure of the woman blocking the light behind me, and more importantly my only escape. This woman was clearly a woman of power within the community, in more ways than her size, and I recognized that she must be one of the village witch doctors. She grabbed me by the shoulder and pointed to my camera, and while I could not understand the forceful words she was speaking, the meaning was made very clear by her gestures and facial expression. Even in the dusty light of the dark room, the fear in my eyes was surely visible, as I hurriedly stuffed my camera in my bag, trying to explain apologetically in French that I meant no offense.

Suddenly the woman let out a loud laugh as her face broke into a big smile, and now she motioned for me to bring my camera out again. Somewhat confused, I turned to look for my friend, hoping for a French translation of what had just taken place. Noelie poked her head through the hut’s entrance, squeezing around the large woman, and laughing she explained that the woman was just teasing me with her menacing threats, and she really wanted me to take her picture. I was still sweating profusely (hot hut), but I managed a nervous laugh as the large woman continued to chatter on and slap me on the back, clearly quite pleased with her practical joke. My pulse returned to normal.

The air was heavy, but I could now see that this was where the women elders (or witch doctors) of the village prepared the fetishes and bowls of potions for the burial ceremony and rituals taking place outside. The women were very happy to have me take their pictures, and then insisted I give them immediate prints of the photos. I could see that they were disappointed as I tried to explain that my camera was not a Polaroid, so I instead showed them the digital images on my camera screen. The women were as excited as young children seeing themselves in a mirror for the first time as they passed my camera around, pointing at each others’ images on the screen (and leaving large, smudged fingerprints all over the lens…). Successfully satisfying the women’s requests for pictures, I quickly exited the hut, relieved to step out into the scorching sun and bright air, ah…

A few weekends ago I had the honor of accompanying a friend to a local burial ceremony. Actually it was more of a memorial service I suppose, the body had been buried over a week ago in accordance with Muslim customs, and now the family was honoring her spirit through the traditional animistic rituals. It was certainly an interesting occasion to witness, especially as a guest of the family, this was definitely the first time I have ever attended something like this. At first I was hesitant to even pull out my camera, but the family members encouraged me to video the ceremonial dances and requested that I take pictures of the guests and family, so I gladly volunteered my amateur photography skills. The first thing I noted from the night that I arrived was that this ceremony was no somber or sad event, and even the immediate family of the deceased cheerfully referred to the event as a party. The day was filled with food, many different courses of pâte (porridge-like substance) and sauce, pounded yam, rice and sauce, fried chicken, roasted goat, etc. I couldn’t keep up with all the food, but it was truly amazing as more and more dishes were served to the many guests stopping to pay their respects.

I arrived in the village the night before the “fête”, and spent the night with the family as women prepared the food for the following day. I didn’t really have any skills to contribute to the food preparation, so I busied myself with learning the greetings and phrases in the local language, Bariba (or Baatonum). Interestingly enough, the father of the family is Bariba, but both of his wives are from different tribes, and so the family communicates in a mixture of Fon, Bialie, Bariba, and French – making it all very confusing to follow (even if I could understand any of the local languages)!! The region is Bariba-speaking, so I decided to focus on that language for the weekend so that I could at least make an attempt to greet the other guests and locals in their own language.

Some of us went to bed around midnight, being rather exhausted from the week and the trip to get to the village, but the compound and village was far from quiet at this time. The women were still pounding yams, singing and dancing as they prepared the food for the day to come, and the men eating, listening to the radio, and smoking tobacco (or some sort of local “weed”, I didn’t quite understand the description in French). We slept inside the cement walled, tin-roofed house (or solar oven) with only two slatted windows, which seemed to radiate more heat than fresh air. I lay down on the fleecy/wool blanket beside my friend, who of course fell asleep as soon as her head touched the floor. As I lay sweating on the hot cement floor, my body feverishly hot, I could almost feel the heat rash forming on my back and neck. My bare legs felt as though they were on fire, and I sat up several times to confirm that my legs were in fact not burning, and it was then that I realized I could create a breeze by moving my body. So I tried to cool myself by doing exaggerated sit-ups, flailing my arms and legs hoping to generate a breeze to douse the flaming heat, but of course this activity only made me sweat more. I’m not sure why, but everyone seemed to think it was ok to sleep with the lights on, but from my perspective even the single 60 watt light bulb was contributing to my hellishly hot and sleepless night, so I promptly turned the light out as soon as the others had fallen asleep. Now in the dark, I was still hot, and sweating profusely on the wool blanket with not a single breath of air movement. Ah yes, I even tried blowing on myself to cool down, but eventually had to quit as I started to feel light-headed.

Morning came too soon with the 5 AM call to prayer from the very nearby mosque. The call was so blaringly loud that at first I was certain that I was perhaps sleeping in the same courtyard in the mosque; was it possible that the family had their own personal mosque and prayer caller?! When I finally did wake up and venture outside, I noticed that the mosque wasn’t quite in the same compound, but just across the street with the surprisingly clear loudspeakers aimed directly into the courtyard.

I don’t think I slept more than an hour altogether, but thankfully with the morning came a refreshingly cold bucket shower and a steaming hot bowl of Tim Horton’s coffee. Hm, yes I still have my “emergency” travel packets of Tim Horton’s – oh what would I do without my Tim Hortons?! Well, I’d probably drink Nescafé, but I’d rather not think about that until I have to.

As we prepared for the ceremony, my friend told me that my usual wrap-skirt and t-shirt was not suitable for such an occasion, so she graciously provided me with a proper outfit (traditional “boubou”) – see picture below…

Apparently it was a hit because I got many marriage proposals (especially when they found out I could say “hello” in Bariba – big seller) and also many demands for the flashy accessories I was wearing. My friend loaned me the blue bracelets, and these were surprisingly popular among the village women. Thankfully since I didn’t technically own the bracelets, it was ok for me to say that I could not give them up; had I actually owned the bracelets, it would have been culturally-appropriate to give the bracelets to the women when they asked for them. Even the witch doctor did a “song and dance” (literally) asking for my bracelets, but thankfully my friend was able to explain that the bracelets belonged to her and no, she would not give them up (phew!). That seemed to appease the witch doctor and I think she left in good spirits, I couldn’t understand what she was saying to me, but it was happy-sounding and she was smiling, so I don’t think she put a curse on me for not giving the bracelets to her…!

This trip I had managed to bring enough bottled water with me for the overnight trip, so didn’t risk drinking the local water. I did get to sample various delicacies during my stay, being a guest of the family, I was privileged enough to be offered goat’s head and hoofs… hm. I gingerly tore off a strip of tough, leathery meat from the shrunken skull of the goat, and the men of the village nodded in encouragement as I smiled and began to chew the meat. If you’ve ever tasted goat meat, you’ll know that it has a rather strong and distinct taste, and the skull meat is no different just much stronger, like chewing the actual hide of the animal. My stomach was literally doing flip flops in protest of the overpowering odor and taste of the meat, as I concentrated on chewing and swallowing the meat, praying that my stomach would accept it without further upheaval. It was on my second helping that I noticed that my friend was not eating any meat from the goat’s head, so I asked her why, and to my astonishment she shook her head in disgust and said that she didn’t like the taste! What?! Well, had I known that was an option…! After a few more polite samplings (and what felt like HOURS of chewing), I decided that I also preferred to eat only the flesh part of the goat (not its head, hoofs, tail, or hide). Actually I don’t think I’ll be eating any sort of goat meat for awhile, maybe just stick to vegetable dishes if I can…

All in all, a very enjoyable weekend in the village, the family was very hospitable and it was a real treat to take part in the preparations and festivities.

My friend and I made it back to the city in yet another dilapidated, overcrowded Peugeot taxi, and I collapsed into my soft bed under the cool breeze of my ceiling fan.

Safari MIS-Adventures

It all began with an invitation to go on a bus tour to the Pendjari Game Reserve in northern Benin. The trip was short-notice, but since I had no plans for the upcoming weekend, I decided to chance it and signed up with two of my Beninese friends. The bus tour was organized by a local radio station, and for a cost of only $20 USD the overnight trip included meals, water, lodging (tents), transport, and a full safari tour at the park – what a deal! I’ve been on enough safaris in West Africa to know that these trips are usually less about seeing wild animals and more about the time spent with your traveling companions, so I was quite content to go along for the ride, thinking that this would be a great opportunity to get out of the city, visit with my friends, and maybe see a few wild animals along the way.

I knew that this safari would be slightly different, but I thought it would be interesting to experience a truly “local” safari, not the typical high maintenance, tourists’ safari. Quite honestly, I have always been under the impression that Africans don’t like camping or going on safaris. My Nigerien friends always thought we were crazy when we talked about our camping treks into the hot, dusty, remote bush, just to take a few blurry pictures of the stark landscape, and if you looked close enough, you could identify the silhouette of some deer, gazelle, no wait, a goat(?), on the dusty horizon. However, this time I was going on a local safari with my Beninese friends, and I knew there would be no air-conditioned 4x4, no fancy tourist bungalow, and probably not any cold drinks or picnic lunches. I didn’t really know what too expect, but I packed my overnight bag with a few basic essentials, including a first-aid kit, bug spray, lightweight sleeping bag, dried fruit, coffee, and 2 liters of water. I figured I would be the only foreigner on the bus tour, so I should pack light and be prepared to put up with whatever the eating/sleeping arrangements might be.

The bus was scheduled to leave at 5:30am, so we arrived at 6:30am because my friends assured me that Benin time is always at least 1 to 2 hours behind real time. I was surprised to see a group of four other white girls waiting for the bus, but as my African friends pointed out, they must be tourists because they had showed up at 5am thinking the bus would actually leave on time! 7:30am, the transit bus (ie: greyhound) pulled up and everyone quickly jumped up to push onto the bus and secure their seats. I should have suspected from the moment I registered, but this trip seemed destined for disaster from the outset. No one had receipts or tickets for the trip, but that didn’t matter because the organizers weren’t even checking passenger names or seats, I don’t think they had even counted the number of seats available, so it was really a first come, first serve. Thankfully Noelie was quick to jump in line and save three seats, because it was soon “standing room only”, and even then some late-comers were forced to stay behind because the seats, aisles, and stairwells were full.

Pendjari Park is typically a four hour drive; we arrived in just over eight hours. I was a little tired at this point, traveling in a hot, crowded bus, in the heat of the day, squashed between two other equally warm and sticky bodies, but I was still smiling and enjoying the ride. There was already a slight wrinkle in the plans, as the tour organizers announced mid-route they would not be providing food or water and we would have to purchase our own along the way (so much for the all-inclusive). I was a bit curious as to how we were going to tour the park, normally you travel in 4x4 Land cruisers, or a 15 passenger mini-bus at the most, because the condition of roads makes them very tricky to navigate with anything larger than a mini-bus. Well, it was when we nearly got stuck in the entry gate of the park that I realized that this large, 60-seat bus was going to be our safari vehicle! Yes, the bus was too large to fit through the cement archway, but thankfully the driver found a detour and off we went rumbling down the dusty road into the park. At this point, I was certain that the only thing I would be seeing for the next 24 hours would be the back of the seat in front of me…

but then my neighbors quickly cheered me up by informing me that they had a wild animal I could photograph!

La petite souris was the most exciting animal I saw for the first couple of hours, but as the mid-day sun cooled, we saw many deer, gazelle, monkeys, and various other wild animals from the discomfort of our bus.

We arrived at the camp around 6:30pm, and the bus driver informed us we could get out or ride to a nearby lake to watch for the animals coming out at dusk. We were all exhausted and feeling somewhat sick from spending the day in the hot, sticky, airless bus; so my friends stayed the camp, but since I was armed with my camera and had come all this way to see animals, I was going to stick with it to the bitter end. I was thankful I did, because we came across two female lions just a kilometer outside the camp! Unfortunately the dusty low light made it difficult to get a clear picture from the safety of the bus, but if you look closely you’ll see the blurry outline of the lion in the grass.

That completed the trip as far as I was concerned. I had photographed gazelle, deer, wild ox, baboons, “Pumba” (wild pig), birds, crocodiles, hippos, elephants, and a lion! Safari mission accomplished, now let’s go home.

Not quite home time, we arrived back in camp and it was already very dark. I wandered around trying to find my two friends, but they seemed to have disappeared into the dark night, so I joined the other “baturi” (white folk) in the thatched-roof restaurant for a fantastically cold Coke (ah, the pause that refreshes…). I discovered that the four French girls were not tourists, but rather physiotherapy students from France finishing up their six week practicum in Benin. This was there last weekend in Africa so they jumped at the opportunity to go to the game park and see some wildlife. As I mentioned earlier, the “all-inclusive” bus tour was no longer providing meals, so we decided to enjoy an over-priced meal at the camp restaurant, and then we’d worry about finding the tents and showers.

It was 11pm before we realized that we were not going to have a tent. After several extensive and somewhat threatening inquisitions by some very tired and irritated white girls (who me..?), the bus tour organizers sheepishly admitted that they had only brought a few 4-person tents (for 60 passengers!!) and not only could they not figure out how to set them up, but the tents were filled with scorpions. Hm. That presents a problem. Two of us went back to the bus to scout out the situation, only to discover that all the other passengers were already soundly asleep either on the bus, or on the ground around the bus, and sleeping on the tent canvases as ground mats. The tents were no longer an option. Normally I have no problem with sleeping on the ground, however remember that we are in the middle of a wildlife park, with at least two lions circling the open camp, it is pitch black dark, with various creepy crawlies on the ground, and we are many miles away from medical attention for scorpion/snake venom treatment. I’ve had enough close encounters with wildlife, including snakes, scorpions, and large carnivorous cats, so I vetoed the idea of sleeping on the ground in the dark. Where were my two friends that I came with? Good question, I assumed that they must have already gone to sleep, but I couldn’t find them among the dozens of dark sleeping figures in the night. So the five of us tent-less baturis banded together and set up camp on the couches under the thatched roof – at least it was well lit and off the ground (no scorpions or snakes!).

I got maybe 1 or 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep as I kept waking up to suspicious noises around us; I couldn’t tell if it was a person or animal sneaking around, but there was definitely something in the bushes over the wall!! We woke at 4am per the bus drivers’ instructions that the tour would be leaving at 4:30am. The bus did not leave until 7am, giving me plenty of time to prepare the one necessity item I had brought with me: a hot cup of Tim Horton’s coffee.

Ah, this day was off to a good start already, I was once again revived and feeling good about the trip ahead.

Oh, and we found out in the morning that the “suspicious sounds” were in fact the two lions that decided to come visit our camp – they had been seen circling the pool just 20 yards from where we were sleeping!!

The bus felt much hotter, perhaps because I was pinched between the hot bus panel which was burning my arm, a warm body on the other side, and the sweat continued to pour, like an internal spring. My water supply had been graciously used up by the other bus passengers during the night, so now I had only half a liter of water for the remainder of the day. I wasn’t too concerned because the bus driver had assured us we would be out of the park and in a city with water by noon.

At 11am the bus finally succumbed to the abusive driving of the chauffeur and refused to move. Everybody climbed off the bus, and the driver and several other amateur mechanics began to work on repairing our only ride to safety. A sign indicated 44km to the park entrance, or 94 km to return to the camp. At this point, we had no food, no water, tempers were flaring, and the passengers’ patience was running low. We sat in the shade of a tree for nearly two hours and watched as the rear wheels were removed, rotated, lots of banging with wrenches and crowbar, etc. It was certainly no Indy 500 pit stop, but whatever they did was enough to coax a few more kilometers out of the tortured bus.

The dirt trails in the park are not designed for high speeds or a large bus, but that did not seem to deter the driver as he maintained a branch-snapping speed, careening off the sides of the trail, bouncing over rocks and logs. The best way to describe the bus ride would be to imagine popcorn kernels in an old-fashioned kettle over the fire, with oil… Yes, it was hot, bumpy, and I’m still recovering from the whiplash. Oh, and when someone would happen to catch a glimpse of a wild animal in the distance, the driver would slam on the brakes, everyone would lean out the windows with their cameras ready, only to be engulfed by the billowing cloud of dust following the bus and obscuring any photographic opportunities.

The bus protested at every hill, and so we were frequently herded off the bus and forced to walked to the bottom of the hill to meet the bus as it sputtered and jerked its way over the top, or sometimes backed down and plowed a detour through the valley. The driver did not seem familiar with the concept of “gearing-down”, so at every hill the bus would continue to climb in 4^th gear, with the engine jerking and complaining, until finally it would come to a stalling halt. We spent much of the afternoon walking down the long dusty trail in the scorching sun, in the middle of a game reserve, miles from water or shelter. The French girls flagged down a passing motorbike and gave the two men instructions to alert the park authorities that we were stranded 20 km from the park entrance, without water, food, and a broke-down bus. Much to my surprise, the park authorities arrived just an hour later with jerry cans of water for the bus passengers, hurrah! If you’ve ever seen video footage of humanitarian agencies distributing food in refugee camps or in famine-stricken villages, you’ll have an idea of the ensuing chaos as 60 passengers scrambled and pushed to fill their water bottles from the limited water supply. I shouldered my way into the masses and managed to procure a liter of water for myself; and relieved to finally have hydration, I gulped it down, not even hesitating to question the source or quality of the water I was consuming.

It was only a short few hours later that I began to regret my decision to drink the cloudy water from who-knows-what-stagnant-pond. Yes, I had come down with every travelers’ worst nightmare – diarrhea. In all my years of traveling and living overseas, this is the first time I have suffered from this unpleasant illness while travelling; I now understand why Imodium is such a popular medication for travelers. Every time the bus stopped, I had the great displeasure of searching for suitable bushes and walls to give a bit of privacy for my “condition.” Have you ever tried to find a quiet corner in a bustling African city?! Public restrooms consist of open fields, garbage piles, alleys; really it’s just a “go-where-you-please” policy in most towns.

Finally the bus arrived in Parakou at 2:30am, in spite of the driver’s best attempts to kill us all with his suicidal tactics of dodging pot holes and other motorists at high speeds. There were no taxis to be found at this time of night, so I walked the kilometer home armed with my canister of pepper spray. I debated using it on a couple of drunken teenagers that were harassing me, but then decided that it probably wasn’t worth the trouble. Maybe another night, but for now all I was thinking about was my toilet, a cold shower, clean water, and my bed – in that order.

Check out my picasa web album for more photos of the safari, http://picasaweb.google.com/rjevans99/ParkPendjariSafari

I don’t think I’ll be going on anymore safaris in the near future, unless they are in Kenya or South Africa, but I’ve experienced enough of the “great outdoors” for now…

Joyeux Noel de Parakou

Merry Christmas to everyone around the world, whether it’s a white, brown, or green Christmas! It’s definitely a brown (with green patches) Christmas here in Benin, and instead of Christmas carols, I can hear the melodic Muslim calls to prayer several times a day. J

Yes, I made it safely to Parakou after a long delay in Tripoli; I arrived in Cotonou shortly after midnight Dec 22 (night) and was met by one of the mission staff at the airport. My only comment on Tripoli, would be to strongly discourage anyone from using Afriquay Airlines, akwai wahala sosai! Anyway, I made some friends along the way and so it made the delay in Tripoli feel much shorter, so that was nice.

Cotonou is the major coastal city of Benin and very humid, even at 7am I was sweating as I drank my morning cup of Nescafe (hm...). I was so grateful to have a ride with several church leaders in their air conditioned Toyota 4-Runner; especially after seeing many transit buses broke down or flipped over along the side of the road between Cotonou and Parakou.

This morning I enjoyed Christmas with my parents and good friend (ahem, also boss) Clara, we had Starbucks and Tim Hortons coffee (very special delicacies brought from Canada) along with our traditional cinnamon t-ring (like a cinnamon bun, in a ring), and the perfect Christmas weather at a balmy 26’C when I woke this morning. J The missionary team here in town is now preparing for our big Christmas dinner this afternoon, I think there will be about 26 of us altogether, so a great Christmas gathering.

Ok, I’ve included a few pictures below that tell a bit of a story about my first meal in Benin. Normally I try to ease myself into the local food, no need to risk my health too early on before I’ve adjusted, but this time as I was travelling with Beninese colleagues and I would felt it would be rude if I didn’t sit down and eat with them.

So, we stopped at a popular truck-stop about half way to Parakou, we had several little restaurant cafes to choose from, all complete with prime patio seating (hard to find in Calgary during the summer!). At first the pastors were quite concerned because they didn’t think that I could eat local food, but no I insisted I would be fine, I grew up in Niger and love African food!

We had a fantastic meal of “yam pili” (pounded yam) and peanut sauce with chicken (so they said – it had very thick skin). I diligently washed my hands with the soapy water provided, although now that I think about it, I have no idea where the water came from… The food was very tasty, just enough spice to make my eyes tear up, yum! I wisely chose to use the ladies’ room after eating, and it was there that I discovered the source of my “chicken”… hm (bonus points if you can identify the chicken in the picture below...).

The picture of the brick wall enclosure is only 3 foot high and was the ladies’ toilette. Oh well, the meal was very tasty, and I thankfully had no ill side-effects from the water used.

Well we’re getting the Christmas celebrations under way here and most of you will just be waking up this Christmas morning over in Canada, so merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all, God bless!

P.S. My internet connection is dial-up and infrequent, so if I don’t respond immediately to your emails, sorry!