Elephants

After a nightmarish trip from Segou to Hombori, a 10 hour bus ride several volunteers and I finally made it to our destination around 5 am to start our weekend of elephant looking. Lelele, our guide was waiting for us at the side of the road to take us to our “hotel”. Around two o’clock the next afternoon myself and seven other volunteers set off in a 4x4, into the desert on an expedition to find elephants.

The elephants in Mali are migratory, meaning they move from watering hole to watering hole between Mali and Burkina Faso depending on the time of year. Going in May meant that the elephants were about 4 hours outside of Hombori on very bad, unpaved goat path. After being shaken and stirred over the bumps and into the valleys we started to see elephant footprints and droppings. Our driver kept asking random nomad herders we saw if they had seen the elephants recently, giving us minor hope that they were close.



We came upon a massive lake and across the way, ELEPHANTS!!! Herds and herds of elephants right as the sun was going down. A truly breathtaking scene. Once we had finished taking some photos, Lelele wanted to get closer. So we climbed back into the 4x4 and drove closer. We had to jump out at a certain point, not wanting to startle the elephants with the car and proceeded closer on foot. At that point, the car just pulls away, leaving us exposed to the MASIVE elephants, latterly surrounding us. Lelele said the driver was too scared to be that close to the elephants and drove off to seek safer ground.

Us, being the brave (and potentially naive) Americans walked closer. The sun was setting and we needed to set up camp before sun down so we went back to the 4x4 and drove looking for a safe distance place to set up camp in the middle of an elephant breeding zone. We set up camp, Lelele had prepared couscous and chicken for us, so we devoured that and tried to cuddle up in the sand watching the shooting stars overhead.



I fell asleep no problem and woke up with Yik, another volunteer standing over me, nervously looking off into the distance. I sleepily asked what was he doing and he said, “there is something big out there, I think I’m going to wake Lelele.” Lelele was woken and he just told us it was some elephants coming to check out our camp site, no big deal so he relit the fire and said all was fine. I got up and went to the bathroom and when I was coming back there was a HUGE grunt that sounded about four feet away. Knowing my cat like abilities I dove into the 4x4 seeking shelter (along with Molly, another volunteer) at this point Lelele declared this site unsafe and quickly threw everything into the car and said we gots to go. It took us about 30 seconds to tear down our site (grass mats on the ground) and hit the “road” seeking safer land.

At camp site number two the sand was softer, the elephants further away and I fell asleep like a champ. Slept right until sunup. In the morning Lelele told us last night at camp site number 2 we were surrounded by jackals looking for food. Comforting, almost got squished by elephants and eaten by jackals all in one night. After breakfast we loaded up the car with less urgency and drove back to camp site number one to see how far the elephants really were from where we were sleeping. Turns out they were about 50 meters from where we were sleeping. Gulp, a little too close for comfort.




We went back over to the lake to see if the elephants were still there, drinking and bathing for the day but they had wondered into the bush already. Once the elephants enter the bush it is too dangerous for us to enter so we sadly had to call it a day and start our long, bumpy trip back to Hombori.

Overall, seeing the elephants was amazing and sleeping in the desert a once in a life time thing (hopefully), a great vacation I would highly recommend to anyone. Enjoy the photos!

Climbing the sand dunes

Another adventure that we went on while on vacation in Hombori was climbing the sand dunes. Right on the edge of town, a 40 minute walk the desert starts with these incredibly high sand dunes. Paul told us to were good shoes for the hike and also we would want them for the sand. Well all I had was a good pair of hiking sandals (Keens) I thought that would be good enough.

The 40 minute walk was relatively painless despite all of the prickers that stabbed me. Once we got to the sand, which is when it got hard. Your feet just sink and my sandals filled with sand making it so that every time I lifted my leg, I felt like I was lifting half the dune with me. I finally took off my sandals and enjoyed the scolding hot sand between my toes. We played in the sand for a long time, but the sun was rising and the day was getting too hot to stick around.

The walk back felt like a million years. By 10:30 it was most likely 115 degrees and not to mention we were almost all out of water with a 40 minute walk ahead of us. Needless to say, it was the longest walk of my life. So hot, so far, so dehydrated! Some how or another we all made it back to civilization, i.e. the bar to find cold pop and warm water waiting for us. In the first 15 minutes back, between the five of us, we drank 8 liters of water and 6 Cokes. For the rest of the day we sat at the bar, drinking water and pop until the sun went down enough to walk back the 1/8 of a mile back to the hotel.

I got pulled over (it sounds worse than it really was)

Last night I was riding my bike with two fellow Peace Corps volunteers, (going to get pizza!!) when at the only stop sign in Segou we got pulled over. ON OUR BIKES! The police officer starts yelling in Bambara, so I just smile and nod having no idea what is going on. He makes us get off our bikes and walk them to the police station to be held. Our violation, not having a flashlight attached to our bike. First off, we were on a well lit street. Second, it wasn’t yet dark enough to require a light. Third, we were racially profiled (being white we are assumed to have tons of money), none of the other biking Malians were pulled over for not having a flashlight.

So the three of us calmly walk our bikes over to the station where the officer puts our bike in a graveyard of collected motorcycles. We ask to talk to the chief on duty and I call our safety and security officer for Peace Corps. I explain the situation to him, and he talks to the chief of police over the phone. As soon as the phone is handed back to me, the chief asks for our names, we all give our Malian names. Some bean jokes (bean jokes are a way to joke with people, eating beans = farting, hilarious in all cultures) were exchanged and they told us to walk our bikes back home and find some flashlights. A bana (Finished).

We get our bikes back, thank the officers kindly for letting us go so quickly and walk a few blocks past the intersection where we were pulled over, find our flashlights (you NEVER go anywhere with out at least one flashlight) and bike to the hotel where the pizza is, have a few drinks, enjoy the luxury of pizza and laugh at our luck.

That is the story of my one and only moving violation.