Africa - Timbuktu - Part 4 - Leaving Timbuktu and Getting Back to CC

Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 8:12am

Timbuktu Part 4 - Coming home

When we got to the port, which is a small area where there are several fishing boats and the ferry with some small shops on the bank of the muddy river, we put our water and other small things for the day in the canoe and soon set off. The canoe was very long, don’t ask me how many feet, with a motor on the back and it had a reed covered area, thankfully. There was no way I’d have been able to make a boat ride in the middle of the day in that scorching sun without shade. It was hot enough with the shade. There were mats on the bottom of the canoe for us to sit on so we were sitting low in the water. I sat on the support bars that ran across the boat when I got tired of sitting in the bottom of the boat. There was a nice breeze as we went up the river.

It is a wide river and looks muddier than it is. There aren’t many trees along the shore but some of the acacia ones here and there. We saw several small communities along the way as they were on the banks of the river. Sometimes there were people at the rivers edge, kids playing, people doing laundry or fishing. We saw some other boats on the river, too. Aziz came with us along with a different Tuareg man, whose name I didn’t catch and don’t have any idea what it may have been. He spoke some English and we talked about different things as we rode. He was an older gentleman and he smoked his pipe like I drank water . . . Only more so. Every so often he would get out his hand carved pipe made from gazelle bone, pack it with some tobacco and smoke it. He didn’t smoke it for long as the pipe did not have a bowl and is more of just the pipe part. . . As if I have any idea about pipe terminology but anyway. Not the most pleasant of smells but I’ve smelled worse, especially here.

We rode for a couple hours and then they pulled over near some scraggly trees and we climbed out onto the river bank to stretch our legs. By now the sun was directly overhead and really punishing us. They put down a mat under the trees where there was small small shade and guess what???? It was tea time!!! Oh I know how excited you are!! Just imagine how excited we were to be forced to drink this wretched boiling hot concoction as we sat there with sweat dripping off us even in the minimal shade. Then they made some rice which we ate. As we were waiting for them to prepare the tea and then rice with some fresh fish they had bought from a fisherman along the way and were still alive flopping around in the dish when we got them, the Tuareg man had some jewelry he wanted to show us. We had been warned that he might try this and had been advised to be straightforward if we were not interested and that would be no problem. The jewelry was beautiful and we looked at several necklaces, bracelets and rings along with some other various items for a while before deciding on a couple items that we wanted. After some negotiating I ended up with 2 necklaces and a bracelet and Abby got a necklace, ring and that gazelle bone pipe with tobacco. The jewelry is mainly from what I’d call Tuareg metal as I’m not sure what it is. I thought it was silver but now looking at it it is looking more like gold. Hmmm. My pieces are the Tuareg metal shaped into a design that has fine detailed markings on it that all symbolize something, some of which I remember, most of which I do not, on a string. They are really beautiful and I’m glad to have them even though they were fairly spendy in my opinion. But because I’m not like to ever return there and the other available items in town were limited to mainly cheap imported junk from China, I’m happy to have these.

After we finished ‘shopping’ and eating, we got back in the boat, slightly irritated because of the heat, tea and sitting there for over an hour I’d say, and set off up the river again. It took us about 3-4 hours to get up to where the hippos live. Not sure why they live in that particular spot but I suppose they know and that matters more than my knowing. It didn’t seem to be a terribly impressive place but maybe the plant life and location allowed for some privacy and  happiness on their part. Who can tell??? They’re hippos, after all. When we were getting close the place we slowed down and kept our eyes peeled, which has always been a strange term to me . . . How do you peel your eyes??? Not sure I’ve ever understood that term. Maybe I’ll Google it . . . I have no idea but we were watching closely to see if we could spot them. Soon we saw what we were told were hippos. Sure enough!! As we slowed down I saw one climbing into the water from the shore which was sort of like a small low-lying island in the middle of the very wide river. We were far away and couldn’t see them very well which is likely for the best as I hear they can be very dangerous with more deaths by hippo in Africa than deaths by lions. How funny!! Or not. . . Again, who knew hippos, of all creatures, could be so violent???? Makes one wonder what would drive a hippo to kill?? What could possibly anger them so?? Perhaps a feeling of being threatened I suppose, especially if they have babies. Feel free to come up with your own belief on the matter. I wonder if people hunt hippos and eat them or use them for something??? Can’t say that is an appetizing or pleasant thought but wanted to share it anyway. LOL!!

We soon shut of the motor as it was scaring them further away. We could barely see them across the river. They kept quite a distance from us and would only poke their heads out with their ears sticking up. Sometimes we would see ones’ back too as they seem to enjoy just floating there far away from us. I’d guess the herd or whatever you might call it had about 10 hippos in it but it was hard to know as they didn’t all climb out of the water and show themselves but rather kept surfacing and diving and making it impossible to know how many there might be. Sneaky buggers the size of . . . well hippos. We docked the canoe and sat there for a while. Then Abby along with Aziz, the Tuareg, and the boat driver decided to get out and walk down along the grassy and muddy shore to see if they could get a little closer and get some better photos. They were so far away it was hard to zoom in close enough to see them very well. They walked a little ways down the coast and I stayed in the canoe. I had no desire to do that, mainly due to the heat probably, so I sat in the canoe and waited for them to come back, which they did after a short while. We left shortly after that and headed back down the river. It was kinda cool seeing parts of hippos. Abby wanted to make the trip to see them but I could have passed on it, especially after the next part.

On the way back, the motor on the canoe kept dying. I don’t know what the problem was but it died repeatedly, causing me to wonder if we’d ever make it back to the port which seemed like days away. If we were left to let the current take us back, well, we might never have gotten back. The current was not strong even when we were in the middle of the river. It seems the Niger is fairly lazy river at times. This was one of those times. The captain would get the motor going and we’d go a short distance and then it’d die and we’d sit there, with no breeze, tired and uncomfortable. This went on for maybe an hour or 2 until it finally stayed on. I was praying so hard that it would work and get us back to the port. After it started and stayed on it took us another 3 hrs maybe to get back. The trip back was so much longer and miserable. Going was ok, pleasant and relaxing even. Returning seemed to take forever and ever. Somehow, we finally made it back and I was so relieved to see that muddy port area. Just to be able to get out and stretch my legs was a relief. The trip made for a long day and we were wiped out. We got a hold of Miranda and Shindouk and waited maybe ½ hr to an hr for them to come pick us up and take us back to the hotel.

They did come get us and took us back. We were so tired and didn’t want to do anything else that day. We showered and rested, I think, and just hung out at the hotel talking until dinner. That night we slept on the roof of the hotel which was an open flat area with a maybe 2foot wall around the whole roof. They put down thin mats and sleeping bags with pillows. It was beautiful getting to sleep under the stars again in the fresh air that cooled quickly. Sleeping under the stars in that place and in the desert will be some of my most favorite things I’ve done on this entire trip to Ghana. It was so beautiful, peaceful, surreal and wonderful. I slept soundly that night and woke up feeling refreshed.

We didn’t feel like doing too much Monday. We had some Milo and bread for breakfast. After that, we went into town to try and get money from an atm or a bank or somewhere. Nothing was working for us. The atms didn’t work for either of our cards. I had a horrible sinking feeling we weren’t going to be able to pay for all the things we had just done because we couldn’t get money out and hadn’t had the time or opportunity to get any out in Bamako. That is a horrible feeling, knowing people have been planning excursions, sending us on them, feeding and housing us and taking us around town and you are unable to pay them. Just awful. We both had people send us $ via Western Union which we were unsure we would be able to even get due to Monday being Easter Monday and a holiday with banks and some other shops closed.

Miranda and Shindouk were so nice about it, though. They were not worried about, knowing we felt badly and knew we would do everything we could to get the money to them, even if it meant getting all the way back to Bamako or even Ghana before getting it to them. That was a relief. When we went into town, we found a Western Union place that was open and we were able to get the money. Praise God for that!! Such a huge relief. I would have felt completely wretched and awful if we would not have been able to do that before we left. After getting our money, we went back to the hotel, figured out our payment stuff, took care of that and decided we would head back later that day after some time in the markets.

We packed up our dirty sandy clothes, purchased some postcards from Miranda who had some she has done and because we weren’t likely to find any in town, and went into town. We said goodbyes to Miranda and Shindouk who had been so helpful and without whose help would have had a much more difficult and miserable trip to Timbuktu. Our driver from our trip in took us into town, filled up on gas and then waited for us to finish ‘shopping’ before taking us back to Doenza. We went to the Grand Marche, big market, first. There wasn’t much there and its only called that because the building that has some vendors in it is 3 stories high. The market had mainly necessities like food and some fabrics. We got some fabric and then walked maybe 5 minutes to the Petit Marche which I had heard had more artisan crafts and such. Sadly, that was not the case. It was actually bigger than the other one, with more stalls of various things so we wandered down through it. Aziz and another guy was with us so they helped us when we found things we wanted to buy. There sure wasn’t much in the way of touristy things to buy, disappointingly enough. We didn’t have much money but we wanted to find some things, even small trinkets like key chains or something. Nope. No such luck. I know it wasn’t tourist season but I thought there’d be some things. We found some beads and little things but that was about it. So we walked back to the other market where our driver was waiting. I bought some other fabric and we loaded into the jeep. I’ll call it a jeep even though I know that’s not really what it was. Its just easier, ok??!! Haha!!

I sat up front this time with Abby in the back seat and our stuff in the very back. We knew more what to expect for the trip back so we were more prepared for the dust and suffocating heat this time. We set off, hoping to make the 8pm bus in Douenza that would take us to Bamako. It was about 2:30pm when we left Timbuktu. We rode through the desert, climbing sand dunes, traversing dangerous roads and dodging stubborn donkeys. Then there was a problem. I don’t know what it was but the driver had stopped a couple times because it seemed he had heard something wrong. He would get out and look at things on the jeep and then get back in. We did this a couple times before we ended up stopping in some tiny village in the middle of nowhere. This did not look good. There couldn’t have been more than maybe a couple hundred people who lived in this area/village. I had no idea what the problem was and couldn’t really communicate with the driver about it so we just waited. We waited and waited and waited some more. It ended up being 6 hrs we were there. There was a small ‘mechanic’ shop there and an older man who seemed to be the mechanic. He, along with several other residents, worked on the vehicle for hours. We had no idea how long it was going to take, if were going to have to sleep there, if we were going to have to live there. All kinds of absurd and humorous things go through your mind when you are stuck in a tiny village in a desert in a country you don’t know with people you can’t talk to and there is nothing to do but wait and wait.

From what I could tell, there was a flat tire or a leaky tire on the rear drivers side. There also seemed to be possibly a brake problem as they were doing some work that looked like what Michael was doing when he was doing the brakes on his VW Thing and made me help by pumping the brakes while he adjusted things. Not sure though, and then there seemed to be a bolt or nut or something on the drivers side axle that must have cracked or something as they had another one they were filing down to get on there with the tire and other parts off that axle. I’m no expert and I’m sure I don’t know what the problems really were but I’m so thankful to that mechanic and his ability to get us back on the road. So after 6 hrs of sitting there, praying I wouldn’t have to marry a stranger and live in the desert there, we were on our way again, but with little hope of making it to the bus station for a bus that night. We got there just at midnight and made inquiries about a bus. We had missed them all and couldn’t catch the next on until 7am the next day. Bummer!! We would have much rather been able to keep going on this journey and get to Bamako sooner but we didn’t have a choice. We had to find somewhere to sleep. That was a bit of an issue as there were few options, especially for 2 white women who didn’t have much money between them.

We tried one place that Shindouk said we should try, and would have been ok if we’d have had a little bit more money. It wasn’t expensive at all but we simply didn’t have the money for it. Yes, the white women/walking dollar signs could not readily afford even a cheap room at a cheap hotel. Oh the fun we had on this trip!! Haha. We ended up walking across the street to another hotel, where the man spoke some English and we were able to communicate our needs a little bit more clearly. We ended up sleeping there on one of those wooden frames that have the thin mattresses on top. They strung up mosquito nets, gave us sheets and left us. The ‘beds’ were in the garden/courtyard of the hotel and we were thankful for them. The driver went to find somewhere to stay as I think he knew people there. There was an outdoor shower/toilet there which we were happy to use to rinse of some of the dirt. The hole-in-one toilet, as Abby fondly refers to it, was in the middle of the open cubicle area where the shower was. It was an egg-shaped small area that was maybe 6 inches high off the floor and the floor sloped slightly down. There was a hole at the higher end and space on either side to squat. Hmmm. Are you getting the hole-in-one reference yet? If she has here photos up I’ll get that one and show you. Kinda hard to explain. Hey, at least there was a toilet at all!! There was a high stone wall with a metal door on it where the shower and toilet was. No ceiling.

We slept for a few hours and I slept pretty good. We got up the next morning around 6-6:30am and went to the station at 7am. We got our tickets, with the help of our driver, and soon loaded ourselves onto another one of those miserable buses. As relieved as I was to have made it this far, knowing what was still ahead of us was a depressing thought. Another 11 hours on a suffocating, dirty bus was a daunting notion but we had no choice and had to go. At least it was still early and wasn’t too very hot just yet. We said goodbye as best we could to our driver and thanked him and off we went.

It was about 2hrs into this bus ride when we stopped in a large city, don’t know which one. The bus made some stops previous to this one and I figured this was the same thing. Picking people up or dropping them off. We should have known something was up when everyone else got off and the bus drove down the road a short distance. We didn’t know what was going on but it didn’t look good. Why didn’t they say something to us to let us know if we needed to get off? Why would we need to get off the bus?? We didn’t know and maybe were afraid to find out. Haha! It turns out the bus needed some tire repair on one of the tires. Well, sure, why not?? My camel was clumsy. The canoe had motor problems. The jeep had multiple problems, too. Why did I not think this bus might also seek to prolong our stay in that desert for as long as it could?? I do not know but I didn’t.
We sat on that bus for 2 hours while they fixed it. Not knowing what to do on the empty bus, we just hung out and watched people out the front of the bus. It was a bigger city with lots of people around, vehicles, businesses, things like that. So we sat there talking and photographing unsuspecting people out the front of the bus. It was great because by the time they spotted us, I had already photographed them and they didn’t know. Ahah!! Ok, I know that sounds bad but it really isn’t that bad. We provided them with some entertainment merely by being white and I repaid the kindness by photographing them. Take it how you will. I’m glad I got some photos of people there.

After 2 hrs it seems the problem was fixed so we went back and picked everyone up and were on our way. I daresay that ride back was more miserable than the first one, though, thankfully our driver kept the stops short and minimal. This wasn‘t a tour bus. It could be because I knew what was coming or because I had not gotten much sleep at all over the past several days and was exhausted but likely it was a combination of all of it and a desire to get back to Cape Coast and things more familiar. I sat there wondering if this hell would ever end, if we were ever going to make it back to Bamako and the airport and then CC. I wondered how I could feel so close to suffocation and still not be suffocating entirely; how I could be so uncomfortable for so long and not be able to change anything about the situation. I wondered how long it would until I’d be able to laugh about the absurdities of this trip and have it be out of humor and fond memories rather than delirium. I wondered how I could live on bread, rice, tea, water and biscuits/cookies for 5 days and still have had any energy to do all those things we did. I feel like we hardly ate anything on that trip. Not sure how that happened. And I prayed. A lot. Oh, and Abby and I came up with an alternative version to Craig Morgan’s, “That’s what I love about Sunday’s,” called something like, “What I hate/love about Mali.” Perhaps we will share our version with you someday. Haha!

Somehow, we made it back to Bamako where Gorel was waiting at the bus station to pick us up. It was about 10:30pm when we got there. It was so good to see him, knowing we were so close to ending this trip. He drove us back to his place where we had some food, took showers and went to bed. We had asked to sleep in the courtyard which they were more than happy to accommodate us on. There was no way we could have slept in that bedroom again. The showers felt so nice!! There was so much water coming out of the shower!! It may have been the best shower I’ve had in Africa. It was delightful and I didn’t want to get but didn’t want to waste more water so I eventually did. I was so exhausted and I fell asleep fairly quickly and slept so heavily. Absolute exhaustion can do that it seems.

The next morning he drove us to the airport around 5am for our 7am flight. We just wanted to be at the airport. We waited for our flight and were soon on our way back to CC!!! Yay!! We were so excited to be going back. We stopped in Abijan, Cote d’Ivoire, which we didn’t know we were doing, and picked up some people and some people got off the plane. The man who sat next to me was finally leaving the city after having been there through all the problem from the election that started in November. He’d had enough as a group of military men had recently attacked where he was staying and stole anything of value and beat up another guy. He was a teacher and had gotten his PHD from the US so we talked and had a good conversation. It was so interesting talking with him and hearing about how it was there and what had been going on. Ironic thing was he was going back to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo which is one of the most dangerous places in the world, because Cote d‘Ivoire was more dangerous. Kinshasa might not be so bad, he seemed to say, but DRC is very dangerous right now. Anyways it was really fun talking with him. We stopped again in Lome, Togo before getting to Accra. Once in Accra we took a taxi to Keneshie station where we got on an STC bus that would take us back to CC.

I was so happy and relieved to be back in Ghana!! It was a whirlwind trip to Timbuktu and I am glad I went but I have no desire to ever go back. Deserts are not for me. But the fact that I’ve been somewhere that only a few people ever get to go or even know exists is pretty cool. Riding a camel in the Sahara and sleeping on the dunes was an incredible and memorable experience and the highlight of that trip. It was amazing and I’m glad Abby was with me to keep my laughing and trying to enjoy the insanity of it all. But there is nothing quite like getting back home to CC after such an adventure.

So there you have it as best as I can remember. Sorry it has taken so long to share it all with you. We had to study for exams when we got back and that was a priority over this. I have now finished exams and will be leaving UCC and CC on Wed to do some traveling with David, my boyfriend. If you didn’t know before, now you do. I’ve been dating him for 4 months now and he is the most incredible man whose life I thank and praise God for. More on him later perhaps. Haha! Anyways, we will be going to the Volta region where he is from and do some sightseeing before I head home. I’ll fill you in the past couple weeks later. For now, I’m ending this Timbuktu adventure. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Love to you all. Talk to you soon or maybe even see you soon. God bless.