Bite! Bite!

Days 52 – 55
Sept. 7 to Sept. 10
Birnin-Konni, Niger

I ran into Dave and Dawn the night before, Tuesday. They are a married couple both serving in Niger and were in the capital picking up a friend who was visiting. They took me around, out to eat, and shopping for their trip upcountry. At one point I made a comment about Michigan.

Dave: “You’re from Michigan?”
“Yes”
“What city?”
“Holland.”
“Get out! I’m from Holland. What part of town are you from?”
“North.”
“Did you go to West Ottawa?”
“Yeah!”

We’re both excited for the next few minutes we talked about Holland, the south-side, north-side, and the high-school rivary. He went to Holland High, but hasn’t been back to Holland for over 15 years. We both invited the other person over whenever the other’s in town.



The ride up to Konni took four hours. You would think a four hour ride would leave comfortably in the afternoon or late morning. Nope. We had to be at the bus station at three thirty in the morning! The bus left at four. The usual time for the trip is five or six hours, but we cut an hour off by the speed we were going. We even felt a bump. We ran over a dog. Both Dawn and Dave were on high-edge since they were on a bus like this that was going this fast when it tipped over. One thing I did miss on the ride, since I was sleeping part of the way: wild giraffes.

A list of typical animals in Africa: Monkeys, Lions, Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes, Hippos, Camels.

I’ve only seen (of those) Monkeys and Camels and I’ve been here for two years. I’m not counting the lions and the sort I saw in the zoo in Mali. The rest are in protected reservations that you can visit.

Two little known facts:
There are penguins in Africa. (the southern tip of South Africa)
Hippos account for more deaths in Africa than any other animal.


However, there is something nice about walking out of a drug-store in a nations capital and having to wait for the camel to cross your path before you can continue.

In Konni, I met the volunteers pet dog (named in the local language ‘to bite’ – just for kicks of yelling at him while he’s running in the street) and saw some of the trainees who had will sworn in as volunteers in a few days time. They had an initiation ceremony for them, and even surprised them by turning off the lights and bringing out a cake with candles to blown out. They blew out the candles, turned on the lights, and got the real surprise. Their cake was just a pot full of sand! The elder volunteers laughed as the trainees sunk back into their seats.

I went with the local driver to other sights upcountry for a few hours. We had to drop off a few items to other volunteers around the area. It was nice to see the different villages that I otherwise wouldn’t have gone too. Just like upcountry The Gambia, these villages were just the same – pumping water, little (if any) electricity, and the occasional NGO helping out a little.