Our destination for today is a bit of a tongue-twister, Parc National du Niokolo-Koba, which hopefully offers more opportunities for wildlife viewing. Having said that if you really wanted to go on safari few people would choose West Africa over East Africa. West Africa has, sadly, hunted its wildlife population to critical levels, so that even in the national parks the wildlife is scarce. Before we go into Parc National du Niokolo-Koba, however, Christi and Hu-man have another cooking assignment coming up and we need to go shopping. We therefore stop at the pleasant-sounding town of Tambacounda, and while Christi, Hu-man and I forage for food, the rest of the group explores. Tambacounda market is hot and dusty and the quality of produce is poor. I think the sell-by date on the produce was a week ago and since we won’t even be using it until tomorrow, Christi is concerned the food will spoil futher overnight on the truck. Still she has 20 hungry mouths to feed, so reluctantly Christi and Hu-man buy onions, garlic, potatoes and carrots. They supplement this with tinned tomatoes and rice, the aim being to make a vegetable curry. There’s also mangoes and oranges together with eggs, bread, and ravioli for breakfast.
From Tambacounda we drive southeast to Parc National du Niokolo-Koba, a UNESCO World heritage site. The main critter I’m hoping to photograph is a hippopotamus. Apparently the best place to observe wildlife in this park is at an area called Simenti, which is located in the heart of the park. It’s a tortuous 90-minute drive through the dry savannah to reach the Simenti hotel, which is perched above a bend in the Gambia River. The river and a nearby watering hole offer the best possibilities for wildlife viewing and photography. However, it’s not the proximity to wildlife that makes the Simenti hotelso appealing, but rather the tempting prospect of an upgrade to an air-conditioned room (at least between 7 pm and 1 am), which comes with that most decadent of all Western inventions, a sit-down toilet. The hotel swimming pool is simply icing on the cake. Quick, where do I sign? Who do I give the money to? I think I’m in heaven.
Enjoy a wonderful dip in the pool and then Christi and I amble over to the watering hole, past a number of vervet monkeys and a warthog that call the grounds of the hotel home. Shame there’s not as much wildlife at the watering hole. Wait expectantly for 7 pm and the delightful sound of the air-conditioner springing to life in our room. Now this is heaven.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of broken hearts and broken test tubes.
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