It began with the idea to go elephant stalking.
It ended with collapsing exhausted on a mat after counting our blessings descending from a truck piled high with millet sacks in the dead of night, shining our flashlights on the bumper to see what was left of the two donkeys we hit with a thunk-squelch, thunk-squelch once we had taken a 4x4 out in the moon-scape of a desert near Gossi, Mali (fearing for our lives thinking the tire blowout was a rifle rapport) to only crunch along sun-baked earth, crouch in sewer-lid sized tracks and ford knee-deep across muddy streams to eventually get vistas of a lifetime of a threatened but once majestic West Africa beastie.
2 comments:
Mariama, you're not a Maiga or a Toure!? I was a PCV in a small village, Goura, to the southeast of Gao from 03-04. I had some great experiences there. I'm amazed that you were placed all the way in Ansongo! I recall scoping out Hausa-Fulani as a possible PCV placement, but never ventured so far away from Gao aside from a Niger vacation. Keep up the great posts. Also, I noticed a mention of Wijila in an earlier post. I would be grateful beyond all words if you could provide a recipe for that. Back when there were stage houses, we used to pay our guard's wife to whip us up a batch. It's magical stuff. -Tom
I am so jealous! I wish I had been there fording the stream with you to catch a glimpse of such a magnificent beast. Please continue to enjoy these wonderful adventures but would love to see more of them by receiving some pictures to post on our lonely website. I am so proud of you and miss you very much. all my love, Dad
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