African Safari weekend!

So this weekend just gone, all of us UK volunteers planned in advance to on a safari together. We had to fit it in at the beginning of our placement as this is the best period to actually see the animals before the rain season comes!

The journey altogether was very tiring, I think everyone would agree! We started at 7am on our way to Bobo, to take a surprise visit into the village, Tibele where all houses were traditionally painted from the war. All people who lived there new French but spoke another language within the tribe, something I’ve never heard of before and isn’t a written language, but similar to Moore.

There was so many small huts and houses, all doors being very small, below your waist pretty much. So to enter any home, you have to get on your hands and knees. This was invented and made during the war to protect the community. For example, if the enemy arrived to attack the village, all families would stay inside, and for the enemy to find them he must bend down to get inside, which then was easier for the villagers to chop off their heads straight away. A little grim, but it most certainly worked. The designs on every hut all stand for specific sacred animals, rituals and traditions from the tribe and what the chief believed in. We learnt that huts with straw roofs were mainly for single men to live in, the cylinder houses were for women after leaving home but to now live with her grandparents before starting a family of her own then she would live in a small rectangular/square house with her husband and children. The open/cylinder houses with no roofs are tend to be used as kitchens now or, if in rain season they have a small room inside with no window but only a chimney. We went on a tour around the village and also went into one of the houses, which contained 2 bedrooms and kitchen, the space was very tight and I also felt very claustrophobic, plus there was no windows, so I kept finding it hard to breathe in there.  Anyway here’s some photos of Tibele Village:

All the people living within the village were very sweet and happy, especially the children who kept playing with us! The whole place inspired me, taught me a lot more of the reality and poverty people are faced with today still from the acts of war.

We headed onward in our journey to another town, to grab dinner which was very filling, contained a lot of rice, just carbs really, the usual then a fruit salad! A few hours later and we arrived into Nazinga Safari park around 3! A very bumpy ride the closer you get out into the wild but with still houses along the way and families throughout their day, collecting water, wood and or donkeys/chickens etc. Every child we drove past shouted NASARH and we all waved, they went mental. I’m so used to waving at everyone here already and saying hello, how are you? It’s so heart-warming.

What you have all been waiting for...

These a few of my favorite photos over the course of the two days we stayed. We went out at 4-6pm the first night, then 6am-8am the next morning. Was an amazing experience to be so close to all of them. Sorry for not many crocodile or baboon pictures, people who were also staying there decided it would be a good idea to walk right up to them and scare them away rather than keep peace, so I didn't manage to capture them much. Although, the elephants were always in a big group, were hard to spot at first but as soon as we found them they were very peaceful and happy eating from branches, feeding their young and scratching each other with a branch haha. It was so magical. We also woke up at 5am to go watch the sunrise, but it was too foggy, but it was still beautiful to see the sky lighten up and the monkeys all come out to play.

I walked off for a while just before we left and sat on a rock near the crocodile reserve and I was so content, I didn't want to leave. I kept thinking, I’m in Africa, I can hear the elephants and monkeys, I feel the African sun on my chest and I’m so happy I made it here. So our little trip out for the weekend was totally worth it and now I feel attached, I have a soft spot for Burkina and the Burkinabe people.