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Published: March 28th 2008
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This week is spring break, and the plan was to travel to Niamey, Niger to visit Geoffrey and Christine, former Guinea PCVs. I left Ouaga on Sunday with Dr. Jen (former Guinea PCV now in Burkina), Kyan (former Guinea PCV now in Togo), and Katie (Kyan’s friend from the States, making her way to Tanzania to do a fellowship).
It took about 6 hours by bus to get to the border. Kyan fought the crowd so she could be one of the first people on the bus and get a window seat. Control of a window is key on these rides: Burkinabe passengers refuse to open their windows even in the hot season, even when the half-conscious American next to them is begging for oxygen.
At the border we had our passports stamped “leaving Burkina” and then drove across dozens of kilometers of no-man’s land before arriving at the “entering Niger” police checkpoint. We had consulted friends who told us they’d had no problems buying their Niger visas at the border; recent guidebooks confirmed that they were available. Yet the Niger border patrol informed us, “We just changed that. Now you can only get buy the
visa in Ouaga.”
They said that if we called the American Embassy in Niger, someone there could give the border patrol permission to let us pass and buy our visas in Niamey. We said we didn’t think they had the right to do that (We tried calling, they didn’t.). They insisted we keep trying until it became clear that what they wanted was for the American Ambassador herself to call them and ask them for a “personal favor.” We politely said we weren’t going to bother the Ambassador on a holiday.
So maybe these border guards were hoping to gain something from our predicament, nonetheless they deserve some credit for not demanding cash bribes. Their sudden honesty, however, was extremely inconvenient for us. They wouldn’t let us have our passports back until we were in a crowded, wobbly bush taxi headed back into Burkina.
I found out later that the rules were changed because of the Tuareg rebellion in northern Niger. Journalists are not permitted to cover the rebellion and they don’t want any journalists sneaking into the country disguised as tourists.
Our bush taxi crossed the stretch of no-man’s land and
arrived at the “entering Burkina” checkpoint just before nightfall. Taxis don’t travel in Burkina at night, especially on this road, because of continual problems with coupeurs de route: armed bandits who stop vehicles and rob all of the passengers.
Just after the border was a large gare, basically a dirty parking lot where a dozen or so taxis were stopped for the night. Straw mats were distributed to sleep on (100 each francs for the night), and the passengers spread them out around the car. We slept clutching our valuables while a couple people stood watch. What better way is there to spend Easter Sunday?
At dawn we piled back into the bush taxi and drove west. The application for the Niger visa in Ouaga would take days; our original vacation plan was ruined. So we changed our itinerary and got off at Fada, a city in eastern Burkina. From there we turned south and got another taxi to Pama, not far from the Togo/Benin border. Around Pama there are several national parks and forest reserves.
Pama had a nice little hotel that was affordable (Hotel Bonazza, 5000 cfa/night) and we were relieved to finally get showers and some rest. I called other volunteers to get info on safaris in the national parks. A friend of a friend would get us a good price on a jeep tour.
Pama is like most other villages/small towns in Burkina, but just outside of the village are several posh hunting campements frequented by wealthy Europeans. I was put in touch with Maurice, a Frenchman and avid hunter who ran one of these resorts. We arranged a tour of Arli National Park for 50 000* cfa for the four of us.
Our guide picked us up the next morning in exactly the jeep that you would imagine on a safari. We stopped by the fancy resort to pick up some supplies (water, shotgun) and then sped out into the bush in the fleeting coolness of morning.
Not long into the ride we came across a group of baboons, who stopped to stare at us a moment before moving on. Throughout the morning we came across groups of gazelles, wildebeests, warthogs, and lots of colorful birds. We went to the few watering holes that remain this time of year and found a troop of baboons playing in the trees and water. We got out of the car and did some hiking; we saw lion tracks but no lions.
We saw two groups of elephants, both had some little ones. Our guide actually led us out of the car to approach them on foot. The elephants naturally wandered away from us. Of the second herd, though, one old bull elephant stayed behind and sacrificed himself to our cameras so the others could get away. Our guide led us within 50 meters of the beast, so close he actually had to aim the shotgun at one point when the elephant turned toward us. But the creature was docile, moving slowly. He dawdled, dug into the ground to find water, sprayed a muddy fountain over his back as if to amuse us.
I definitely recommend the tour through Maurice’s campement at Arli - but beware of the price. We had agreed on 50 000 over the phone, but when it was time to regler the bill came to 74 000 - there were taxes and park fees, etc. Annoyed, we demanded to talk to Maurice again. After a short discussion we split the difference, Maurice bought us a conciliatory round of beverages and invited us to use the pool. I got the impression he hadn’t meant to rip us off, he was just accustomed to dealing with affluent foreign hunters who didn’t care about a few extra fees.
So now I’m back in Ouagadougou. Next week we have our Close of Service conference where we stay in a nice hotel and learn about things like benefits after Peace Corps and how to readjust to life in America . I finish my service June 14 and I’m hoping to travel for a few weeks and get back to the Detroit area in early July. Let me know if you’ll be in the area!
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