After returning to Niger in January, we hit the ground
running! We had to get over jet lag,
move into and set up a new house (including dealing with electricity and water
issues and buying a fridge), and get the girls started back to school all
within 4 days! It did take longer than 4 days to finish setting up the house
and unpacking…but by the end of the 4 days we were sleeping in our new house
and had enough unpacked to find clothes and make food.
With a start like that by the time March came we were ready
for a break! We wanted to get away as a
family and relax. But what can we do in
Niger? Well, we have a camping spot that
we like to go to when we need to have some time for R&R. Trust me…preparing for a campout…especially
here… is not the easiest, but it was definitely worth the effort and we made
some great memories!
So, here’s how camping in our neck of the desert looks…
2)
Arrival – We call the guy who owns the camping
plot (also called the mango farm) and he takes a boat from his village across
the river to begin sweeping and preparing the camp site for our arrival. He has to get out the table, chairs, tire
swing, and sweep up all of the leaves and sticks…you know, to give us nice clean dirt
to camp on! When we arrive we set up our
mosquito nets, hammock, unpack our things, and then the fun begins.
3) Fun- Here’s what we do for fun on camping trips
– go fishing, but fully expect to catch nothing…mission accomplished, but still
fun. Oh wait, we did catch an old
fishing net someone had left in the water.
The girls love playing on the tire swing.
They also love playing near the river and in the
tree house.
Other things we have done
are play hide and seek or climb the mango trees. And of course it’s always fun on a camp out to
sit and watch the fire and roast marshmallows.
Also, on this particular trip we were able to see lots of hippos! They were close enough to get a good viewing,
but far away enough to not be worried about them. Yes, we know they are dangerous! But they also don’t want anything to do with
humans, so as long as we don’t do anything to make them feel threatened we can
camp in harmony.
4)
Food – We remembered our Cedarville cross
country team roots and made hobo dinners.
This is something we did in college with the team each year and we still
make these when our team gets together for campouts. If you care to know…a hobo dinner is a meal
you can cook on a campfire. Inside of
aluminum foil you place hamburger meat, sliced potatoes, onions, carrots, and
ketchup or barbecue sauce. You wrap it up and place it
on the coals, flip it, then you’re meal is done! Jody and I love this meal, but the girls
opted for roasting hot dogs. For breakfast
we had fruit, muffins, juice and hot tea.
5)
Sleeping - I already mentioned that we slept under
mosquito nets. It was pretty hot at
first, but we had some battery powered fans and it cooled down as the night
went on.
Just think…we’re camping in
Africa, next to the Niger River, under mango trees, hearing hippos grunt in the
distance, sleeping outside in this remote area…quite an unforgettable
experience!