A few weeks ago I took a short vacation to Niamey, the capital of Niger, with my PCV friends Audrey & Heather. We all had a few vacation days left and wanted a little girls getaway. I was most interested in seeing the Niger River and going on a boat ride while Heather wanted to see giraffes. Audrey was up for anything. We all were interested in shopping especially for silver jewelry made by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnic group found in the Sahel and Sahara.
In Niger we spent the first two nights at the Peace Corps transit house so met many PCVs and got lots of recommendations especially on the best places to eat. We definitely ate very well but am sure it was because we were in vacation mode and willing to splurge. After talking to neighboring PCVs and hearing them rave about Ouaga, I realize you definitely see a place different when you're there for vacation rather than trying to get tons of work done over a few days.
We visited the National Museum our first morning which consists of a few small exhibits, a sad zoo, and some artisan stands. Nothing too impressive but we enjoyed seeing hippos, lions, hyenas, and ostriches as well as displays on dinosaur bones found in Niger and traditional dress.
That afternoon while wandering along the river looking for a restaurant with waterfront view, we ran into a guide who could take us to see hippos on the river. He recommended a restaurant and met us there with a motorized pirogue (a large canoe) a few hours later to start our tour. We spent over two hours on the Niger River and only saw one hippo but he was big and completely out of the water. I loved the ride and the hippo was just a bonus! This is the most important river in West Africa and runs through many important places including Bamako and Timbuktu. Amazingly its only a huge river for part of the year. This being the end of rainy season, the river was very wide and had a fast current. We were told in March people are able to walk across it since its so narrow and shallow.
We were impressed with our guide, his prices were lower than we expected to pay and it seemed easy to make arrangements with him so we agreed to have him take us to see giraffes the next day as well as to a few other places. As it so often is in West Africa, he was over an hour late picking us up and our car broke down so were stuck on the side of the road for over two hours. So much for having to get to the area early before the day got too hot. The town of Koure is promoted as having the last population of wild giraffes in West Africa. I'm not sure its true or not since there are several parks and reserves throughout the region though nothing like what is found in Eastern and Southern Africa. We didn't have to drive more than 5 km or so off the main road before I spotted a giraffe through the bushes. We drove a little further and found a whole group together eating acacia bushes. We walked around near the animals but they would start to move whenever we got too close. I counted a total of 11 giraffes in this group but we were told over 200 live in this area. We also saw camels resting within several yards of the giraffes and other domesticated animals like goats and sheep wandering around the area. People were walking by collecting fire wood and other daily tasks so it was obvious they lived there right among the giraffes. Interesting to see but again no where as cool as the parks I visited in Kenya.
That afternoon we visited Bouban Island located on the Niger River. To reach it, we rode in a small pirogue that was paddled and poled across. We heard it was a really cool place to spend a few hours and the sights included a humongous haunted baobab tree. We were not at all impressed. The restaurant had no food and after tromping through tall grasses and prickers we arrived at a tree that was good size but I've seen bigger in my village. Plus nobody could give us any answers about if it was really considered haunted and if so, why.
Our final day was spent shopping at several different markets, an artisan village, a string of small jewelry shops, and a big (for my current standards) grocery store. We all got plenty of souvenirs but I was disappointed at the high prices of jewelry. I guess they were more Western prices than I was used to but hopefully also Western quality.
We ended our trip with getting dressed up for dinner at a great Italian restaurant. It was so good I even ate two entrees! How will I ever adjust to being able to eat whatever I want whenever I want it?
Transport back home was easy on the Niger side but as soon as crossed the border the troubles begin. Every time I, and all my friends, have returned to Burkina, it has take forever to get through immigration, customs, and border patrol. I don't know what they are worried about people sneaking in but boy do they go slow and stop the bus repeatedly. This time it was made worse by three unfortunate bus incidents. As we pulled away after the first stop, the driver didn't have quite enough room and the side of our bus scraped the rearview mirrors of another bus causing a huge window to shatter and glass to fly. Thankfully nobody was hurt beyond a few small cuts. After an hour spent cleaning this up, we were ready to go again only to find the battery had died so we needed a jump from another bus. At another stop a few km down the road, our back tires got stuck in the mud and it took quite a while and quite a few men to push us out. Only a few more hours later and without anymore bus problems, I made it back to Tenkodogo.
Unfortunately I still don't have a camera but I hope to get pictures from my friends to post in the future.
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