Eventually, we started seeing real mountains rising above the sandy valleys.
A lot of the landscape was very stark, almost lunar, but became beautiful as the sunlight played on it and reflected different colors.
The first selected village was Idaoudene, where the chief, picture here on my right, was at least 6 foot 8 inches.
Our military escort sat down and started making the traditional Nigerien tea - they were not fasting. Nigeriens often carry around these little wire stands for charcoal, and tiny teapots, so they can sit down anywhere and make tea. The Nigerien tea ceremony is very complex and exact, and consists of three "(shot) glasses, the first "as bitter as death", the second "as mild as life", and the third "as sweet as life" (and boy, do they pour in the sugar!!) I really enjoyed their hospitality, as they always offered me a glass.
Saley, one of our surveyors and one of my favorite people, with some of the women in Abarakan. Poor Saley had a simmering malaria practically the whole time, for which she was sporadically taking chloroquine (difficult on your stomach when you're fasting). She finally gave up and took artesunate near the end, and felt much better.
A lot of the landscape was very stark, almost lunar, but became beautiful as the sunlight played on it and reflected different colors.The first selected village was Idaoudene, where the chief, picture here on my right, was at least 6 foot 8 inches.Our military escort sat down and started making the traditional Nigerien tea - they were not fasting. Nigeriens often carry around these little wire stands for charcoal, and tiny teapots, so they can sit down anywhere and make tea. The Nigerien tea ceremony is very complex and exact, and consists of three "(shot) glasses, the first "as bitter as death", the second "as mild as life", and the third "as sweet as life" (and boy, do they pour in the sugar!!) I really enjoyed their hospitality, as they always offered me a glass.We couldn't do Abarakan, the next village, that night, so we camped out at their health center and did it the next morning before continuing on to Timia.
Sunrise over the boulders rising behind the health center. It was Sunday morning, and I climbed up to have some prayer time, which sparked an interesting conversation when the gals asked what I had been doing up there.
This is the health center, and all our vehicles, looking down from the boulders - rather pretty with the light behind it.
Saley, one of our surveyors and one of my favorite people, with some of the women in Abarakan. Poor Saley had a simmering malaria practically the whole time, for which she was sporadically taking chloroquine (difficult on your stomach when you're fasting). She finally gave up and took artesunate near the end, and felt much better.
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