Trans Africa 11 - Niger

First Mamoud took us to see the Bella village built on the banks of the Niger river. The village consisted of small round mud huts that are washed away each year in the rainy season. The semi-nomadic, mostly Tuareg, inhabitants migrate back to the Timbuktu region at this time of year. Next we visited the impressive Grand Mosque. The large structure was built of mud and termite resistant Palm wood. The river seemed to be the center of activity with the trading boats, the dugout canoe ferry operators, and the people washing themselves and their goats.

We hired a pirogue, dugout canoe, to visit the Bozo village down river. The pirogue was punted across the huge river by the young owner who proudly called himself 'Captain'. The Bozo village was very picturesque with the mud built houses, the mosque in the center on a hill and the palm trees. As we landed at the village we were swamped by excited children buzzing around us like bees around honey. We really couldn't imagine how the village could have been any more primitive. Just as we had finished our tour of the village and were climbing back aboard our pirogue, one of the children came running up to me with my wallet that I must of dropped. I checked the contents of my wallet and was amazed that not a penny was missing!
(to be continued)