SO THIS IS NIGER

A Journey to West Africa's Last Wild Places

W  National Park

Finally, after a good night’s sleep at a splendid camping spot – Jean-Claude and his crew not only cooked another three course dinner, he even had a camping shower rigged up for us - we reached the boat landing of  Park National W in the early afternoon.

When I had set out on this river tour I thought the destination W National Park the main point of the tour, but I am glad that I took the circuitous route; cruising along the river with its ever changing land- and river scapes, and visiting some of Niger’s fascinating rural communities will be a treasured memory.

A vast and native habitat, Park National W spans across three countries: Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. 10,242 km2 of woodland savannas and wetlands are one of West Africa’s most important wildlife sanctuaries. Like so many wilderness areas, Park W – so called of the W-shaped bend of the Niger River is nonetheless under constant threat from a relentlessly growing rural population. A shortage of sufficient grazing on adjacent lands makes the park a constant temptation to the pastoralists, especially in times of drought.

It is fortunate though that this unique area not only harbours elephants and lions and hundreds of different bird species, it is also a breeding ground for a number of nasty diseases that kills both humans and cattle. As early as 1926 this fact was recognized by the early colonizers, and they set this enormous area aside as a “Park Refuge”. In the mid-fifties some villages were relocated outside the park’s borders, even though these measures weren’t well accepted.

Because it is both expensive and complicated to travel to Niger, and not that easy to organize game-viewing trips, the government and local Nigerians haven’t yet understood the potential tourism opportunities and the income that could be generated. We could not see many obvious efforts to improve the meagre tourist infrastructure in and around the park.

However, the camping ground was in good nick and a number of visitors had established themselves in army-style tents. A noisy group of Mauritanian Arabs in their white kaftans were making tea. Behind the tents they had parked their rather impressive 4WD.

Along the periphery we were shown by the camp manager to a number of toilets and two shower cabins. Though obviously, judging by their cleanliness, only recently installed, the flushes didn’t work.  However,  the problem was solved ingeniously by water drums placed strategically outside each door. On top of the shower hut sat large. oil drums and thanks to Niger’s free solar energy I even had an almost hot shower later that night.

Compared to camps in East Africa facilities are extremely primitive, but nonetheless a haven of comfort in Niger’s wilderness. Overnight stays in these rather spacious tents which are furnished with camping beds, mattresses, bed linen and mosquito nets certainly don’t carry the exorbitant price tag one encounters i.e. in Kenya.

But of course, there is more to Park W than the “campement”, as the camping grounds are called over here. And fortunately – since Jean-Claude’s tour ended here - Dominique had organized a Toyota Hilux for that day so that we could venture into the Park itself by car.

And so, very early the next morning, yours truly, Dominique, Hauke, driver and obligatory guide drove off to discover W along a circuitous route. We had been warned that we may not see many animals, but despite the lack of  the local fauna I couldn’t help but  marvel at the rich tapestry of rugged pre-Cambrian rocks, flat woody savannah areas, and lush gallery forests along the Tapoa river. And the colours, I thought, these muted reds-, ockers-, yellows-, and browns -- make for one of the most beautiful landscapes in Niger.

The park is populated by about 500 plant and more than 80 animal species; among them about three hundred elephants, a good number of the African buffalos and even lions are known to roam here. Against all probability, for the vegetation is high at this time of the year, we saw Kob gazelles, a rather large herd buffalos, red monkeys and baboons. Along a tributary of the Niger we spotted several crocodiles sunning themselves on the river shores.

West Africa wilderness, of course could never compete with the rich variety of animals in Eastern Africa, but for birdwatchers the W park is an exciting birder's paradise. It was wonderful to spot a hamerkop (my first!) in a riverbed and throughout the park there were spectacular variety of hornbills, metallic blue starlings  and multi-hued kingfishers.

Unfortunately my mates weren’t really keen bird watchers, and they were in no mind to stop for birds of the feathered kind. Nonetheless at midday they were in luck. A young and pretty Swiss girl who works at the park for ECOPAS turned up at our picnic spot and gave us an update on current projects and developments.

Unfortunately – for all of us – and all too soon we had to return to Niamey.

Posted by: Lewana at November 30, 2007 22:13 | link | comments
africa, bird-watching, niger, boattour on the niger, w national park

Humedica – Flood Relief in Niger

Maire Halidou Soumaila, dressed in a sky blue boubou greeted us in flawless French in Toure, a village of several thousand inhabitants, about 120 km from Niamey. The centre of attention is, however, neither us, who arrived in an air-conditioned Mercedes 4WD, nor the mayor, nor Nils Stilke, the Project Coordinator of Humedica who organises a Flood Relief project in Niger.

A group of village elders sat in the shade of a big tree and watched with interest the unloading of wooden beams and building materials from a former German Army truck. Several workers, paid for by Humedica, unloaded the heavy split palm tree beams.  The only concessions to the precarious work are several pairs of gloves to protect their hands from splinters. Otherwise, the men wear rubber flip flops who would hardly  protect their feet from injuries. Their working conditions compared to Europe is extremely sub-standard but it doesn't appear to bother anyone but me.

Many of the mud huts of Toure, like hundreds of others in this area had been destroyed by torrential rainfalls in July and August. A lot of families lost their homes and lived in grass huts or tents. However, the loss of shelter wasn’t the worst that had hit the people in this region.

The bucketing rains flooded their millet fields, and destroyed almost all of their harvest. Then, in September, the rains stopped suddenly, which prevented the remaining millet crops from ripening. “These shortages are a cause of great concern. Without food and on a hungry stomach these people cannot build new houses” said Maire Soumaila, while the second part of the donations, water pumps and fuel, plastic sheets for water-proofing the roofs, blankets and mosquito nets were unloaded under a shady tree in the centre of the village.

“This was the reason, why these villages were chosen for our aid project”. said Nils. These villages are situated near a tributary of the Niger and have access to water year round. Therefore we are donating water pumps that will enable these people to grow a sufficient crop of millet and vegetables this year. And he adds an interesting statistic: “A family here can survive on one bag of millet per month. If Humedica donated millet for 2000 families it would cost 225 000 EURO. The cost of fifteen water pumps including 100 m of PVC water pipes costs only 6 500 Euro.”

“Now that fifteen families have received the water pumps, what are your main priorities for the coming months?” I ask the mayor after the speeches and the goods distributions was over and done.

“First of all I will give the assistance and training for the maintenance of these pumps. We have already formed a committee that will collect money for the use of the pumps and for the necessary fuel to run them. “

"We are lucky; we have somebody here in this village who worked as a car mechanic in Niamey. He can train the farmers and do repairs. I will also organise training to teach the farmers new modern methods to grow better crops,” he promises.

“Are you going to stay to see our gardens?” the mayor and the village elders asked us.

Of course we did. It was wonderful to see the water flowing into the parched fields.

Many people critisize the poor efforts of Western countries  and donation fatigue but today at least we could witness a successful project.

For the people in Toure it may work in the future.

Posted by: Lewana at November 26, 2007 15:30 | link | comments (2)
africa, aid and development, humedica, ngo

International Fashion Festival in Niamey

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Well, no one over here has given Niamey a “Dullsville” tag as yet but yesterday’s opening ceremony of the International African Fashion Festival (FIMA at the Sports Centre in Niamey may well have catapulted me into instant catatonia if there hadn’t been those wonderful photo opportunities.

The Sports Centre is air-conditioned – which is a blessing on this stinking hot afternoon. We arrive on time but it is evident that the opening ceremony will be starting at least an hour late.

Nonetheless there is a colourful mixture of participants and invited guests to watch and a girly band is quite entertaining. Never mind that the loud speakers are very nearly piercing my ear drums.

Participants from Benin, Burkina, Togo, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, South Africa as well as designers from European, Asian and Caribbean countries are hanging out all over the stage.

Photographers from all over the region are waiting patiently for some action but since nothing happens they photograph each other and I have plenty of opportunity to admire the jewellery on the reserved seats.

Models are nowhere to be seen but these young men from the Peul Bororo Tribe are trying to look their best if not a trifle out of place and time.

 

Posted by: Lewana at November 22, 2007 16:41 | link | comments
africa, niamey, niger, international fashion festival i

The Peul Village

Our next stop allowed us to experience the unique pastoral landscape and to learn a little about the life of the semi-nomadic Peul or Fulani people.

Jean-Claude is well known to this village and we are greeted on our arrival by a tall Peul herdsman and two small goat herders, exact copies of the elderly man.  While Jean-Claude fulfills his greeting obligations, I wander towards the parched millet field, that divides river and village.The dried plants are widely spaced by necessity for these farmers here practice mostly rain-fed agriculture with few tools and with little or no fertilizer.  I was sad to observe that the empty millet ears had not reached fruition because the last rains necessary to produce a crop had obviously failed.

A large herd of donkeys and the ubiquitous goats and cattle will chew the dry stalks down to the parched earth, as this herder’s animals do now. But still, this village is the Africa I find irresistible and fascinating. Despite this backwardness there is a vitality of tribal ways of life that we in the West have perhaps lost a long time ago.

I couldn’t help but marvel at these exotic Peul women all dressed up in colourful dresses, dazzling headscarves, intricately braided hair, enigmatic facial tattoos and beautiful jewellery dangling from earlobes, necks and wrists.

This tiny Peul village may be trying to survive by scrounging for vegetation for their herd animals, but their unique life style is obviously very different.  They appear to be far better survivors than the other tribes that live along the river. Here in this community there are no dirty or mal-nourished children begging for hand-outs. While we wandered among circular huts with their conical reed roofs, peered curiously into their granaries, admired their exceptional building- and weaving skills, most young women were hiding their faces modestly from our curious glances. None of them spoke French, and it takes a lot of smiling and sign language to eventually get their permission to take their pictures.

Fortunately my mates wandered off to pay their respects to the elders of the village. Once alone with the women, they loose their timidity a little but it still takes a lot of coaxing to make them look up and pose for my camera. Finally, after lots of photos and showing them the result each time, they started to trust me and visibly relaxed.

“A bit of ecotourism to prop up their income other than from subsistence farming and herding wouldn’t hurt here at all”, I thought.

 

 

Posted by: Lewana at November 21, 2007 22:11 | link | comments (1)
africa, aid and development, niamey, niger, niger river tour, peul, fulani

A Journey to West Africa's Last Wild Places

The Villages

Part 1

 

After lunch, we continued to cruise downstream, our pilot skilfully picking the deepest river channels and avoiding treacherous turbulences. The closer I looked at the shores the more I noticed the severe land degradation caused by an exploding rural population and their large herds of zebu cattle, donkeys, goats and camels.

By now we have perhaps covered a distance of 60 – 80 km since Niamey. For miles and miles this narrow belt of fertile land has stretched out unbroken to the horizon; picturesque pictures of round-bellied straw and mud huts, hordes of waving children, large pinasses, the bigger brothers of the pirogues, filled with all sorts trading goods and large families aboard, an absorbing variety of birds, trees and shrubs unfolds and disappears from my view like mirages. Around every river bend, amazing landscapes open up in shades of pale yellows, greens and ochres.

Our next landfall is a small village on an island, and the focus shifts suddenly. I felt like a time traveller stepping way back into time. A horde of dirty children, most prominent amongst them a tomboy wearing a cap with red polka dots, greeted us with great enthusiasm. Dirty little girls surround us, two of them carrying tiny babies. The faces of some of girls are scarred with traditional tribal markings, their hair tightly woven close to the skull. Even though they live right on the river, none of them had a bath for some time. They are dirty beyond even my tolerance level.

The grimy brood grabbed our hands and lead us to their village. Their homes are a cluster of rectangular mud huts, like dices thrown haphazardly over the island. In between the huts blackened cooking pots are lying about, a few chickens scratch in the dust, and several goats nibble at a few dry sticks. A little boy of about two years of age hungrily scratches at a crust of left-over millet porridge in a blackened pot.

The village appears untouched by time and life looks bleak. “This is only a temporary village. This people come here when water becomes scarce in their villages further inland.” explains Jean-Claude.  “They may have water from the river, but look at the children”, I say. These babies are barely alive, and some of the children show signs of malnutrition and none of them looks healthy..

Jean-Claude shrugs his shoulders. “There is not enough fuel to boil water, nor money to buy powdered milk for the starving babies.” “These babies will be dead next week,” says Moussa, who has been translating for us.

Shocking, yes, but that is how it has always been in Africa. In this Muslim country, polygamy is the rule. Most man take four wives, and most women in Niger produce an average of eight children. With so many mouths to feed, each year food becomes scarce when the stored millet is eaten; and the children are the last to be given food. They know that a child can always be replaced by another one next year. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is.

There is really nothing much that we can do to help them. There is not a single doctor or nursing post along this stretch of the river. None of these wretched people would have the means to reach neither Niamey nor would they have enough money to pay for treatment of the dying babies.

Visiting this village was a most sombre experience for all of us.

Posted by: Lewana at November 19, 2007 17:18 | link | comments (2)
africa, environmental issues, aid and development, boattour on the niger, niger river tour, the villages on the niger river