Tour de Senegal/Kedougou: Drive to Mako, Wildfire, & Sparky-the-Mouse

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Christmas Eve, and we didn't see one red Santa hat or Christmas tree on the ten-hour drive from Seleky to Mako, in southeast Senegal. We did pass many villages, bumping along dusty roads, frequented by bicyclists, walkers, and an abundance of livestock. The route took us east through Kolda, north past Tambacounda, then turning back to the southeast through Niokolo Koba National Park, to a campement in the village of Mako. While we missed Rudolph and his pals, we did see an assortment of monkeys, including baboons, which more than made up for the loss. (See photos 1&2.)

Fires and smoke were evident everywhere, a common site for us over the next week in the Kedougou region. Unlike the wildfires that create great alarm in California, these fires burn freely, charring the tall grass and fallen trees, seemingly not hot enough to more than warm the mature trees, with exception. (See photos 4-6.)

Our campement in Mako was arranged by our driver, Samba, and was an immediate disappointment, a low point on the trip for me, with rough facilities, and locals drinking wine to excess. It was a severe step down from our lodgings in Seleky, and, as we later learned, in comparison to the other campements in the area. Still, we chose to stay, and over the week came to settle in nicely. It's manager, Douda, become our guide. While he lived in Mako, located along the main road north of Kedougou, Douda was raised in a rural village adjacent to the Bedick village of Ingel. His contacts, access, and local knowledge proved exceptional.

We shared our hut with a mouse we named Sparky. Sparky would emerge every evening, searching for entry points into our food sacks hung from a support pole, scurrying across the roof beams. Photo7 shows Sparky entering a can of Pringle's Hot & Spicy potato chips which we left open for him. It was the least we could do. (Yesterday, while reviewing the videotape, that I discovered that there was in fact at least two Sparky's.)

A French couple from Paris, Jean Claude and his wife Roland, arrived in their camping car (what we know as an RV), on their yearly pilgrimage through West Africa -- Senegal, Mali, and Benin -- having passed through Morocco and Mauritania. They'd made this trip a dozen times or more, so they were seasoned travelers, and welcomed the nightly conversations over whisky and ice, dinner, and a campfire. (See photo8.)

For video, see clip1, clip2, clip3, clip4, clip5