The Niger - Day 1: Mopti to Camp 1Nov 6, 2005
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Niger River
Village Saba
Saba Mosque
| Dossier: Cruising to Timbuktu on the Niger River The Niger River is a major highway in the Sahel desert region and often the most practical means of getting around. River transportation varies from local craft like the pirogue (a traditional poled canoe used by riverside villagers) to pinasses (large motorized pirogues which perform an inter-village commuter service and are capable of carrying from 20 up to 100 passengers); and also steamers (which operate on seasonal timetables). We charter our own private pinasse and spend 3 days cruising the Niger River northwards to Timbuktu. This will afford an even more intimate look at life along a great African river as we pass by tiny villages, meet friendly Bozo fishermen and their families and enjoy the wildlife that inhabits the marshy shores: especially birds - the river is an ornithologist's paradise. At night we'll moor on the banks of the river and camp wild. We will be accompanied by a Dogon cook who will prepare our meals. Conditions are primitive and we'll take all our supplies with us. The Niger, whose route was for many centuries a mystery to European minds, is Africa's third longest river, after the Nile and the Congo. From its source in the Fouta Djalon Highlands of Guinea, close to the Atlantic Ocean, its course ascribes a huge arc through north-eastern Mali into Niger to debouch finally some 4184km away in the multi-stream delta of Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. Travel Notes: Up at 5:15 with the runs, fabulous breakfast after a week of stale bread and jam at 6am (breads, fruit, yogurt, egg), underway on our pinasse by 6:45. The river is gorgeous this morning, flat and serene. Mopti is where the Bani and the Niger meet. Our pinasse sits 3 across. Today I am sitting with Susan and Rosie who like to talk...not that I really mind, but I get tired with too much talking. I am not the best conversationalist and many in our group are very informed and very opinionated and can spend hours in monologue/dialogue/argument. We are heading north down the Niger. Many fishermen poling toward the fishing grounds and birds sing in the marshes. At 9:45 we stop at the Saba, a Tuareg village. The children are very skinny and aggressive. The mosque from afar looks like a Disney World affair. We are taken to the village chief where the turbaned men who are very tall and thin are sitting around in a courtyard under a tree while the women are down at the river washing dishes and clothes. Many of the children are naked and wear a string around their waists, sometimes with a cowry attached, to ward off illness, but most have green/yellow snot around their noses. The Tuareg wear lots of gold. Back on the boat after the ritual of hand washing - 2 basins and a bar of soap travel from the back of the boat to the front, one for washing and one for rinsing, the usual bissop tea is served back to front. After lunch, front to back, we travel through the marshes. Maggie, our ornithologist, is enthralled. In the afternoon we stop by another village where we are permitted to enter the mosque - not much to see -before we hear the call to prayer and skedaddle up to the roof. The tailor shop where 2 men are working away at Singer treadle machines is about 120 degrees...no windows. Back on the boat we pass several villages some with rounded roofs and others with the flat. I think the rounded are Bozo. Our campsite this evening is lovely, truly. Jeff and Barry are appointed sanitary engineers and wander off with the shovel. We know the loo is vacant when the spade with the TP on it is visible. I resist the urge to swim in the river and do the basin thing, but the mud is so dense and sticky, with wet shoes or feet, it builds up and up and up. No wonder it makes good building material. Clarissa and I are tent mates tonight. Since our second day out, we have all had various chores: kola nut duty, tips kitty collection, thank you speeches, and drinks tally. Drinks clipboard is the bible. On it are our names with the drinks we ordered for the trip and a check off of what we use, as well as other monies owed like the sheep, the insurance, lunches, and assorted IOUs. Except for the river trip, we are able to get drinks, so we just keep a tally. Each day or half day one of us is in charge or this very important tally, and each day or so we pay up. I had ordered a couple grande bier, just in case, that I ended up giving to Amaga, the cook because I had a partial pint of Ballantines. It is nice to be peeing again. During the Dogon country we barely did. Skye said our pee should be light yellow. What a laugh. With all the water, tea, etc. we drank, we rarely peed and when we did it was scant and dark. Another interesting phenomenon was what happened to our respiratory systems. We could not breathe out of our noses - too dry, too dusty? We coughed a lot, and not being able to speak for anyone else, when I blew my nose, it was always bloody. My poor hanky after a day's trekking, blowing, and wiping was used as a washcloth, ready to go through the same routine again the next day. On the river it is humid and chilly in the morning. Our noses begin to run, and my eyes water. Little do I know that this is a precursor to a very nasty cold, most likely caught from Rose who brought one with her from New Zealand. |
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