Travelogue

First, my apologies for not posting for so long. The holidays, my safari trip, in-service training and a bout of intestinal parasites have all conspired to keep me away from the internet for much longer than I anticipated. I am on the mend and things are on the upswing here in Cotonou. For me, things are settling into a routine, so there is less that seems “exciting” to write about. For you, of course, that is far less apparent; so my silence can be misinterpreted as something more ominous. Rest assured that all is well here and I am OK.

Second, I want to say an ENORMOUS “Thank You!” to everyone for the packages, cards, letters, emails and all the other demonstrations of love and support you sent my way over the holidays. I got some before I began my travels and some didn’t arrive until I returned, but all were received very gratefully. It was difficult to hold onto the spirit of the holidays in the African heat, but it helped to have a copy of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” to bring it all back. (Thank you, Julie!)

So let me begin with a bit of a travelogue. I left Cotonou on the 22nd of December for my first real trip into Benin. First stop was the village of Tchaourou (CHA-roo) where my new good friends Steve and Jaren are posted. It also happens to be the hometown of the President of Benin, Dr. Thomas Boni Yayi. As a result, Tchaourou is a really nice town. It has facilities that you would expect in a much larger city, including excellent drainage and garbage collection. Steve and Jaren live right on the outskirts, a stone’s throw from the president’s compound. (They actually met him on their first day in town. He was doing a walkabout and saw two white people walking toward him and stopped to greet them.) I spent two very relaxed days there sitting under the mango tree, drinking cold beer and eating grilled meat. Steve had the metal fabrication shop across the road make him an oil drum-sized grill and we christened it very well.

From there I went north to Parakou (PAIR-a-koo), which is the 2nd largest city in Benin. PC has a workstation there and that’s where I spent Christmas. There were a few other volunteers there but not nearly as many as I expected, so it was pretty chill. We made curry and stir-fry and had movie night on the workstation DVD player. The next day I left for Natitingou to meet up with the safari crew. There ended up being eight of us and unfortunately the guide had wrecked his 4x4 a few days earlier. He managed to find a vehicle, but only half the seats were on the outside, so some people had a not-so-clear view. It was still pretty awesome.

Parc Pendjari was not what I expected. I assumed it would be much more developed and commercial than it turned out to be. With the exception of the hotel where we stayed, which itself was fairly basic, the only other structures inside the park were a couple of viewing platforms that had been erected near some watering areas. Those and the roads were the only signs of human presence in the park. For the most part, the wildlife ignored us and went about their normal routines. We saw pretty much everything EXCEPT cats. No lions, no cheetahs but just about everything else: elephants, hippos, buffalos, more antelope (and the like) than you could count, crocodiles, baboons and other primates, a python (sorry, no pics), a tortoise and a ton of amazing birds. Pendjari contains areas of all the different climates and topographies of Benin. There are savannah-like plains, there are more dry desert-like areas, there are areas of tropical vegetation along the northern border (up against the Niger River), so you get both an abundance and a variety of wildlife. It was fascinating to move through all of these areas over the course of a single day. A selection of the best pictures is available at the link below.

http://washington.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2225413&l=1eb76&id=10713384

The highlight of the trip was probably the buffalo stampede. Early on the morning of the second day we headed out toward the river hoping to see buffalos and/or the lions that sometimes feed on them. As we followed the road around a curve in the river there was a herd of at least a hundred buffalo just off the road to our right. We stopped the truck as a few of them looked around and saw us. They weren’t very happy about it. After a few seconds they were all looking our direction and some were moving toward us. Then they started charging toward us and all the others followed. When they were about 20 yards away our guide blew the horn on the truck and they swung away from us and stampeded across the road in front of us, coming to rest again in a field about 50 yards away. I actually have about a minute worth of video from my digital camera of them turning away and running across the road. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to transfer it off of the memory card yet, but I’m working on it.

The other really adventurous part was trying to put eight people into one hotel room. And when I say room what I mean is a large rondavel – a round hut with a conical peaked roof containing one large bed and a sink. Needless to say, several of us got to test out our sleeping pads and air mattresses. But, hey, it was all part of the bonding experience that is Peace Corps.

I spent New Year’s back in Cotonou with a few other volunteers – very low key – and shortly thereafter started feeling ill whenever I ate. This is not all that uncommon around here so I did nothing at first. Cycles of relative wellness and illness lasting a couple of days each became routine as we got into the middle of January. Our in-service training (IST) was scheduled to start on the 21st in Parakou and I had made big plans for a birthday bash in Tchaourou (which is on the way from Cotonou to Parakou) for Saturday the 19th. About 15 PCVs from all over Benin – mostly my stage-mates, but some other folks, too – descended on Tchaourou for grilled meat, wood-fired pizza and much beer. A fine time was had by all. That was also the last day before I got really sick.

I won’t disgust you with the details, but suffice it to say that I had an intestinal parasite that made my life both uncomfortable and difficult. It wasn’t real great for my companions, either. Luckily the PC Medical Officer was in Parakou for the first day of our training and was able to diagnose my malady and arrange for the correct medication before she left town. So now, happily, I am much better now and back to my daily routine which is not much different from that of many of you. I will say more about that in my next update, which will be MUCH sooner than this one – I promise.