At least five wells...: Travels to Tamba...Part 1.

My host mom has told me that if I sit up straight while I eat, then all the food will go straight to making a more plump—and thus more desirable—derriere. Well, I just flattened my best efforts in a 20 hour trip across Senegal! Last week I rejoined my travel buddies for an unforgettable trip to SE Senegal.
Our trip started at 5am with 7 adults crammed in a 1970s station wagon called a septplace. Upon mention that I was going to Tambacounda, everybody responded: “ooo, the road is awful” Well, I fully agree. About 2.5 hrs out of Dakar, the road turned into a sand pit that sometimes traveled in a straight line. Everything and everyone quickly turned sweaty and covered in dust.
Around 4pm we arrived in Tambacounda, affectionately referred to as “Tamba.” In Tamba we transferred our sweaty, dirty—but excited-- bodies to a 4x4 truck. We then traveled 3.5 more hours into la Parc National du Niokolo Koba, welcoming the fresh air. (photo: Jamie, Jonathan and I finally in fresh air)
We arrived to the campement de leon around 10:30pm and finally got to eat. Throughout the trip we often times arrived at the table where there is no menu and you eat what you are served. Everyone gets the same plate and it’s usually some sort of meat—I stopped asking what it was, which means, I often times had no idea what I was eating.

Always an interesting experience! We quickly retired to our double bedded huts and were sung to sleep by hippos!!! Hippos sing!!! Well, kind of groan—nonetheless super cool!
The park is notorious for its wild animals and even though we didn’t see any lions, we had a rooaaring great luck with hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, birds, antelopes, and multiple kinds of monkeys! Our two days in the park consisted of early morning rides through the park spotting animals. Returning to cool off in possibly parasitic waters—it was so hot, that we really couldn’t care (I’m not dead yet, but I will get a blood test when I get home). We then waited out the hottest part of the afternoon and finished the day with another ride see the animals retreat for the evening.
During the first day, we came to a bridge which our driver insisted that it was too dangerous and instable to cross. He persisted for probably five minutes with us females, then quickly turned to Jonathan with the challenge to cross. Astonished at the quick change in opinion, I challenged why it was ok for Jonathan to cross and as expected his response: “It’s just to dangerous for females…” Well, of course, I was the first female to cross, and after all of the females crossed he practically crawled across in fear, only to defend his masculinity. Oh, the hilarity of machismo!

The second morning, four of us climbed in a boat to look for hippos and crocs. Yes, we intentionally searched for extremely dangerous animals in their natural habitats. We didn’t sit too near the edge of the boat. Not only do hippos sing, but they live in family groups, are very territorial, stay under water all day but come up approx every 10 mins for air. They are huge, powerful but beautiful.
We also saw a croc that we were sure was dead because he was so far from the water. After our guide threw some rocks at it, he descended from the truck to poke the croc with a stick (we all stayed, tight in suspense, in the truck). The croc quickly came back to life with a huge snap of the jaw and luckily he ran in the opposite direction of the guide. Our screams probably scarred the croc into never again leaving the water! Lesson to learn if you ever come across a croc: its their strategy to wait out prey. It waits, and waits and waits then in a flash can jump to attack. Incredible first hand experience—that I never want to see again!