Another border crossing this morning, to take us back into Niger. Even though most of our crossings have been relatively quick and hassle free, with only cursory searches, it still seems as if we spend half this trip at borders.
The expedition's original itinerary had us travelling through Nigeria, but the border was closed to try to stamp out the black market - at least that was the reason we heard - so we were detouring back into Niger and heading east along Nigeria's northern border. My sister had sent a box of Christmas goodies to me via Poste Restante in Nigeria which I sadly would never collect. But it found me two years later back in Melbourne!)
Long, fast driving from then on, with the kilometres flying by. Finally stopped and camped at 6 PM, instantly attracting an audience of locals who stayed with us late, through a hilarious dinner with Jeff mouthing off about the disgusting slimy okra in the meal and reducing most of us, including chef Nikki, to hysterics. (We did not know how to cook okra, also known as ladies' fingers - I've since learned that it's best fried rather than stewed - but I have not recovered from those okra attempts in Africa and still can't eat that vegetable.) Given two plates of leftovers, the local children stuffed hands of food into their mouths, emptying the plates in rapid time. Ben then presented them with our rubbish bins and pandemonium ensued as they scrounged through and ate our scraps; their obvious hunger was hard to cope with.
Ben was forced to dampen his blazing open fire to low coals with water which showered the cakes and truck with ashes.
Despite the constant company I'm feeling a bit lonely at the moment. Want to be close to someone even for a while, to hold someone and be held and give in to the part of me that is being denied. But I have to accept that I won’t get the warmth I need at present.
Photo by: Punyashree Venkatram
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