Ramadan Prayer at Tabla
Tabla Women at Ramadan Prayer
Ramadan Prayer
Tabla Women at Ramadan Prayer.
Griot. Griot is a Tradional Musician.
Griot
Tabla Kids and Griot
Looking Down the Tabla Road
Chef de Canton Holds Audience After Ramadan Prayer. Chef de Canton is a Traditional King.
Listening to the Chef de Canton's Speech
Chef de Canton
Village Elders Listen to Chef de Canton
Listening to Chef de Canton
Village Elder
Tabla Griot
Typical Nigerien Sheep
Typical Nigerien Kids.
Mangessi. Crazy Old Coot! I called him, 'Dotijo Fasaci' - just means 'Crazy Old Man'
Ali. Ali is my Best Friend from Tabla.
'Touriste'. His real name is Moussa, but they call him 'Touriste'. Many Nigeriens are known by nicknames. Children aren't even named until 1-2 weeks after they are born. A group of villagers gather about 1 week later in a prayer and the name for the child 'just comes' to the priest who then gives the child its name.
Stacey and Some new Friends
El Hadji
Zara. She is one of Ali's daughters. This is a rare moment of laughter in a picture of a nigerien. When it comes time to take a photo they are very serious. Zara wanted a photo for her boyfriend...she doesn't have a boyfriend yet, but she wanted to be ready.
Stacey and Zara.
Moussa, Me and Seidou at Seidou's local '7-11'.
Me, Moussa and Seidou at the '7-11'. This is a typical 'store' to get food and supplies.
Pele (Ali's son) and Karim. Another rare moment of laughter in a photo.
Me and Boubecar James. Boubecar was the agriculture chef while I was a volunteer. He's retired now. One of the hardest working people I've ever met.
Boubecar, his son and a friend.
Boubecar's family
Open field in National Park 'W' where Stacey worked. Park 'W' is really the only place in Niger that has wildlife (lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, antelope etc.) It actually spans the borders of 3 countries - Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso.
Typical road in Park 'W'
Roan Antelope
Baboons at a watering hole. This troop let us watch them for about 15 minutes before they let us know it was time for us to leave.
Roan Antelope
Vulture.
Niger River
Niger River
Lion tracks! We followed these tracks on the road for almost 2km one morning! The lion had passed along the road no more than an hour earlier.
Same lion tracks. Probably a lioness.
The swish marks to the right are from where the lion laid down and rolled in the middle of the road - just like your own house cat would do.
Abysinian Roller. This is actually a pretty good photo of one. They are not at all rare, just very 'flighty' and tough to get a decent shot. They are a brilliant Azure-Turquoise color.
Tabla people.
Tabla elder.
Tabla kids
Chakai and I. A 'chakai' is actually a small 'shuttle' like piece that is used in the traditional weaving of blankets. This guy used to be a weaver - I've never known his real name.
Stace, me and Kasana. Kasana is the local soccer god. Actually Tabla has many good soccer players, Kasana organizes the team. No, they don't play in those robes. They play on a sand or laterite field and most play barefoot.
Me and Brama. Brama is the older brother of Moussa and Seidou.
Tabla women.
Aissatou (Ali's second wife) shows Stacey how to tie a head scarf.
Marafa and some rebel bandit.
Tabla kids catching a glimpse of the anassara's. 'Anassara' now means 'white person', but the origin really refers to people who come from 'Neserat' which is an Arab village not far from Mecca. The story of the Origin of Tabla (my village) is that 3 brothers fled from their home village near Mecca because they were attacked by people from Neserat.
Tuareg. Tuaregs are traditionally Saharan nomads - the people you might think of romantically as the African marauders with their indigo turbans. Tabla is a 'Bella' village. 'Bella' were once considered the 'slave class' of Tuareg.
Baby sheep.
Stace with some camels in the background. This is about 2km east of Tabla.
Camels.
Ali and I trying to figure out how to work a new short wave radio.
The structure to the left behind the sheep is a granary. They would keep mostly millet there.
Jibou made this car for me entirely out of millet stalks! Its complete with side and review mirrors, an engine and trunk compartments, steering wheel and spare tire!
Some of my friends hangin' out.
Stace getting her hair braided.
Baboons
Our campsite in the Park.
Our campsite
These vultures kept watch over our campsite in the Park.
Me..napping by the Niger river
Our X-Mas tree! Stace made the ornaments herself while I was napping ;-)
'Red' monkeys crossing the road.
A huge bird nest ... not sure what kind ... Hammercop?
One of a small group of 4 elephants that have been hanging around Tapoa (the Niger entrance to Park 'w') for many years.
We saw these elephants on Christmas morning and watched them for about an hour as they casually crossed the river and munched on leaves.
Looking out over the Niger river at sunrise.
Stace with the guys that ran our camp. Some of these guys are friends of Stacey's from back when she was a volunteer.
Have no idea what kind of bird this is ... pretty, though.
Hammercop
Cob antelope
Baboon
Cob
Cob
Me with Bello's daughter
Bello's wife with daughter
Bello and daughter. Bello is Stacey's good friend from Tapoa. A really motivated guy. He was Stacey's counterpart in the Park for her work.
Bello and the whole family
The Tapoa airstrip. A very nice strip, really - complete with a helipad! This area is kind of known to be a hang out for cheetahs. The whole park probably has a total cheetah population only 20! They are probably a subspecies of cheetah, slightly different in size and appearance from the ones in east and south Africa. Most of the Park area is covered with shrubs and grass; cheetahs need open areas to spot and catch prey. So, it makes sense that they would like the airstrip. There is no regular airtraffic here - or anywhere else in Niger for that matter.
Lion cubs! 3 of them just sat in the road for a couple minutes .. very curious about us!
Mama lion
Mama lion deciding its time to collect her cubs before they get TOO curious about us. Mama was a very cool cat .. in more ways than one!
Baboons
Roan antelope crossing road.
Waterbuck
African buffalo - these guys are big! They travel in large herds, are very quiet and surprisingly difficult to spot.
There's a red monkey in that tree...
Warthogs. Tough to get a good shot of them...quite skiddish
A bustard. *VERY* rare siting.
Bustards were hunted to extinction in most of Niger.
'Grand Canyon' of Park 'W'. This really isn't very big (by comparison), but its an excellent example of erosion at work shaping the land. This was also the site of an old village about 200 hundred years ago - Gargo Ga. When the region became a national park about 50 years ago all people and villages were required to move.
The Mekrou river branch of the Niger
A warthog family
Roan antelope
Roan antelope
Roan antelope
Termite mound
Stacey and Ibrahim .. a friend who sells African artifacts
Amadou and Zenabou. Amadou is our friend Seidou's brother. Seidou was one of my language teachers when I was in training. Seidou lives here in the US now.
Amdou. He lives with Ali. Amadou is a Fulani (aka, Peul). Fulans are semi-nomadic herders. Most herds of cattle, sheep and goats across all of west Africa are herded by fulans. Fulans know each member of their herds, which can total in the hundreds, and have names for each. Fulans survive almost entirely on cow's milk, they generally don't eat the meat.
Fulans are about the most genuinely nice people I've ever met.
Zara applying a henna design to Stacey's feet. The mixture looks like mud and stays on the feet overnight held on by plastic bags.
The finished product
Arbi
Gunda. One of the most rapid talking, sarcastic, hard working and honest people I've met.
Gunda all dressed up in his father's dress robes. He wanted to dress up and have a picture of himself that he could give to his kids.
Jibou and other kids
Jibou holding a mirror for Ali so he can get all primped for a photo.
Ibrahim, Stace and I
Our driver and guide in the Park. Mohamadou was a great guide. Issafou was a good driver, though a bit hard of hearing ;-) Issafou was also terrified of elephants.
Issafou
Some Tapoa kids getting their picture taken with the elephants in the background.
Soumana and his son Boubecar. They are silversmiths extraordinaire.
Cob
Cob
Cob
A Baobab tree. The fruit is called 'pain du singe' or 'monkey bread'. The seeds inside the fruit are edible and very high in vitamin 'c'. The friut is about the size and shape of a big mango and it holds maybe 50 seeds each about the size of a gumball.
Ali and his childhood friend Lewelli
Stace and a new friend.
Our little hotel room while in the capital Niamey. The 'hotel' was called 'Les Ronniers' - Ronniers are a type of palm tree. This hotel has one of the best restaurants in Niger and server the best damn gespacho soup I've tasted anywhere!
Stace in the Park 'W' museum in Tapoa
The Tapoa River gorge. This was Stacey's backyard for 2 years!
Some Tapoa villagers. Tapoa is an 'artificial' village - kinda. It was created as the Park headquarters and consists mostly of people who work in the Park and their families.
Tapoa school children in front of their school building. One of Stacey's projects as a volunteer was to do repairs on 2 school buildings and build a 3rd one.
Inside a Tapoa school room. Typical room for most of Niger.
Moussa (on right) and his friend. Moussa worked for Stace while she was a volunteer.
Yahya, me and Soumana. These guys are about the best silversmiths in Niger...in my opinion. They're also just nice guys to hang out and chat with.
The Park W museum
A typical Niger donkey. This guy was out on the road about 2km from Tabla.
Tabla school kids
Ali
Ali's family
Ali and I
Ali, Amadou and I taking a donkey cart ride as we leave Tabla. I lived in Niger for about 3 1/2 years and this was my first donkey cart ride!
Kids returning home from the market. The market is in Balleyara about 12km from where they are in this picture. Kids work hard in Niger.
This is the Tabla cemetary. Actually, this is the part of the cemetary where all the past chiefs and family are buried. Most of the cemetary area is a wide open field with no distinct markers by western perspective. Sites are marked by trees, bushes or general area and they all know exactly where everyone is buried. It was a real honor for me to be able to visit the cemetary, something I was not invited to do as a volunteer. The grave sites you see here are outlined with rocks and mark the graves of former chiefs and family members. This goes way back to the origin of Tabla. The grave in the upper portion that has 2 rings around it is the grave of the very first chief of Tabla dating back to about 1730.
Stacey, Amadou and I near the end of our donkey cart ride
Camels can carry an incredible load...don't think for a second that they do it willingly!
Looking out north over the landscape from atop a mesa about 5km to the east of Tabla. This is typical Niger terrain. The village below is Zarmei.
Cob at dusk
Just a cool bird.
A Baobab
Cob
Niger river from atop rocks just outside our camp
Looking west from the mesa 5km out from Tabla
Looking south from atop that same mesa 5km from Tabla - at dusk.
The Niger River
Stace and I
Niger river at dawn
Stace, me, Issafou and Mohamadou
A water bird. Stace and I hung out in an observation tower for about 2hours just outside of Tapoa. This was just before we left the Park. We didn't really see much.
Tabla villagers
Looking down the road in Tabla
Tabla getting ready for the Ramadan prayer
Ramadan prayer. Ramadan is the Muslim holy month of fasting. For an entire month they fast from sunrise to sunset. They are not allowed to eat or drink anything during that time - they aren't even supposed to swallow their own saliva!
The Ramadan prayer signifies the end of the month-long fast
Kids generally don't participate in the fast.
The kids show up any time a camera comes out. This is me trying to explain to them that they have to back up if they all want to be in the picture...
This is a temporary pond about 2km east of Tabla. This is probably completely dry now as I write about 1 1/2 months after our visit.
Kids dancing as a griot drums
The Imam leads the Ramadan prayer
Tabla school kids raise the Niger flag and sing the Niger version of the pledge of allegiance
Me investigating a big Baobab tree. The tree had a rather large hole in its trunk where our guide said leopards would raise cubs.
An even better picture of an Abysinian Roller
A Roller in flight
Cob family
Roan antelope
Making bread at our campsite.
Look close..that's me center photo.
Roan antelope...notice its missing a horn?
A Thompson's Gazelle
Baboons
Baboon
Small herd of Roan
This guy may look like he's lazing, but he's really acting as a lookout for the rest of the troop.
Red monkeys
Look close, that's a Nile Crocodile sliding into the water!
A small Nile Croc about dead center of photo
See that large rock almost dead center of the photo? That's no rock, that's a big bull elephant napping in the Tapoa river!
Cheetah display in the Park W museum.
Park W entrance
Those brown blobs covering the tree are Village Weaver nests.
Baboons drinking at a watering hole. These watering holes will become smaller and fewer over the next few months until the rains come again in June
Roan herd.
A weaver nest of sorts. They make these very compact nests right on the stalks of tall grass. This grass field was filled with hundreds of these nests. The grass can stand over 6ft tall!
Field of weaver nests.
Stace and Mohamdou stand atop our truck and watch for elephnats and other creatures as I explore in the grass amongst the weaver nests. The grass in this area had all been trampled flat by a herd of African Buffalo that passed through earlier.
Stace holding an abandoned nest I found on the ground.
Lion cubs!
Can you find mama lion in this shot?
Waterbuck
Stacey and Malam. Malam is Amadou's sheep (Seidou's brother). Its pretty unusual for a Nigerien to become attached to an animal, they just don't keep pets like we do. Malam is special, though. Amadou got Malam the day his mom died.
The Niger river from our Hotel window in Niamey our last night in Niger. Niamey is the capital of Niger. Years ago the capital was Zinder (aka Damagaram)..but that's another story. Niamey used to be called Gaweye and was much smaller than it is now. I asked about the origin of these names. Gaweye are hunters, or people who 'gaw' (hunt). 'Gaweye' can also be interpretted as plural, or group of hunters. One story has the origin of 'Gaweye' coming from 2 hunters coming down the Niger river from Mali.
The origin of the name 'Niamey' is less certain. One story says its from one misguided individual visiting 'Gaweye' who asked a local what the name of the village was. The local mistook the question as an insult and returned one of his own 'Nya me!' (I won't translate, but its not a very nice thing to say about one's mother!). Another story says the name comes from a type of tree called the 'Niamey' that used to grow on the river banks. Supposedly this tree still exists somewhere in Park W.
Lioness! We saw this lone lioness christmas at dusk as she casually left a watering hole. Dawn and dusk are good times to see wildlife at watering holes.
Stork
Hornbill
More of the lion cubs
That tower you can kind of see to the upper right is the one Stace and I hung out in for a while before leaving the Park.
