Saturday 22 September 2012

From Mauritania to Senegal

It was in August 2012,south Mauritania and so close to Senegal that I could almost see Senegal from the camp. Since day one I had absolutely nothing to do as the rice field where I was supposed to work was flooded due to the rains. During those endless days doing nothing I had thought of moving away and see something different, something exciting , perhaps at the other side of the river? perhaps senegal had something interesting to see?.I was sure it did. One morning , without having planned anything at all, I decided to jump to Senegal and travel south to Saint Louis. The raining season had just started so I knew it was not going to be easy, but on the other hand I was alone at the camp ( my spanish colleges were off to Spain) and for the first time in years I had a lot of time. The landscape had changed completely since my first day. When I got to the camp, there was just sand and a few bushes around. Later on, after the rains, it was so green! there was water everywhere, in fact the camp was surrounded by water. Locals were fishing where it used to be sand kids were playing in the water and semi-naked woman were doing laundry in the swamp. I could not believe that a landscape could change that much in such a short period of time!

The river was just 2 kilometers away from the village, but the water had reached the outskirts of the village as the river was overflowed.


The first obstacle was crossing the massive swamp by kayak before getting on a horse carriage which would take me to  the Senegalese border . The path was moody and it made quite hard for the horses to follow the normal track, in fact the carriage wasn't steady at all and I thought I could fall off anytime.



A local guy who had learned Spanish in the Canary Islands took me to the border, once there he found another guy who would help me to cross the border. From this moment on I would be on my own , with a guy who only speaks Pular (local language) and who didn't seem to understand my body language when I tried to find other ways of communication ...
It wasn't only the language I could not understand but also the strange sounds he would make with his tongue when speaking with other locals...later I read that some Africans do have this kind of sounds in their tribal languages. In that case that sound meant agreement (yes or ok).
At the border, still in Mauritania, the guy gave me a hand to get Senegalese currency  to pay off the 'ferry' (wooden kayak). Once in Senegal I managed to take a van which was meant to bring me directly to the main road(30 km away), where I would take a bus to Saint Louis. I thought It was done and that it was a matter of an hour to get to the main road. But it wasn't that easy. The road was flooded so 1 km after leaving the border the van stopped and I had take a kayak and continue by horse again. The flock of sheeps that were on the roof of the van would now have to cross the swamp by kayak. 


After one hour on a horse carriage I got to Medina where I had to walk for another hour to reach main road. At this point I wasn't sure where I was going and if I would manage to make it. My guide was so unresponsive when I was trying to communicate that I was already thinking of going back and find someone else who could help me. Finally  I could see the main road, finally a signs of civilization. There I understood that a van would stop, eventually, opposite the Acacia tree.

The absolute ignorance about the territory, local language, and bus timetable made me think whether or not the travel was a good idea......But it was too late by then, so I resigned myself in the shade of a tree with other locals who were having a tea. I tried to communicate with them and one of the guys introduced me a girl who would speak some English. I was the only one worried there, waiting for a van that might or might not arrive. I realized how different is the conception of time for westerners.
Finally I could see a multicolor-van approaching the tree-stop. I thought I was lucky enough even though the van had wooden benches instead of seats and I was literally embedded in between two big women. Goats were tied up again on the roof of the van. The situation got worse when a third robust woman got on the van, jumped the first bench, jumped my bench(thank God I thought) and finally fitted her bum in a non-existing gap right in front of me. I thought she had no space but she made herself comfortable by pushing the others out. That is how it works, I thought....At this point my knees were also embedded into the woman's bum. She seemed to be comfortable, I didn't. 




After having travelled for 5 hours, I finally got to Saint Louis, I was extremely tired but happy to get to my destination. The old french colony of Saint Louis, one of the embarkation ports during the the Slavery Trade.









No comments:

Post a Comment