Sticking your neck out for F-U-N!

I recently got back from a trip to Niger. It was a load of fun. We saw a hippo (Yes only 1), the biggest Baobab tree ever (well I’ve seen bigger, but I went along with the story) and lots of Giraffes. I went with 2 other volunteers for a quick trip east.

We left really early, but it seemed to take forever to get there. Border patrol took the longest, which I guess is ok, since it shows they are doing their job. Once in Niamey we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and started exploring.

We took a canoe ride along the Niger River, which is where we saw 1 hippo. One day we went to a village about 45 mins away from the capital and saw giraffes in the “wild.” They are super cute. We got pretty close, which I didn’t think would happen. In this park there are 210 giraffes, but since they travel in packs, we saw 12. Later that day we went to some important island where there is a haunted baobab tree (Rafiki’s tree in Lion king) and supposedly the biggest in Niger, but like I said I have bigger ones in my village and we didn’t see any ghosts! The last day was spent shopping!!!!!

On the way back, I was at the border patrol and I ran into someone from my village. Which is crazy because I just said my village name and he knew me!!!?? I thought he knew my name because it was on my passport, but it isn’t so it just goes to show how small the world really is.

I’m back in village now. Trying to tie up a few lose ends, because I need to start winding down my projects. The biggest project I am doing right now is teaching women how to make a lotion to repel mostiquto. It’s really popular which is good because everyone is getting Malaria (well not me).

The rain has basically stopped, so it’s gotten really hot. I know it’s always hot here, but during rainy season, hot weather means rain, now it just means HOT!


ALSO, IF YOU WANT TO SEND ME MAIL NOW IS THE TIME TO DO IT. I WANT TO RECEIVE IT BEFORE I LEAVE THE FIRST OF DECEMBER!!!!!! (I’ll let you know the very last possible minute, but big items like packages or fat envelopes need to be done nowish!)


Mail Received:
Parents
Aaron