Ayarou

Ayarou is a market town up the river from Niamey. It is really close to Mali. in fact, the nigerien government moved the border so that ayarou is past border patrol... oddly enough.

myself, kwada, mayaki, and dulla (all french- 1ers) went the same weekend, with barke, a teacher at the american school. he was a bu student, and did the niger program for 3 semesters. he's way cool, speaks zarma, and knows sooooo many people in niger. it was such a great opportunity to go on this trip, i did things that i could never do if i was a mere tourist. we drove up in barkes four runner, which when parked always looks like a car ad:

Ayarou is right on the river, and the river is really wide at this point. There are islands in the river, which have villages on them. ayarou's a cool place because a lot of different ethnic groups are found there, and people from all over the place go to the weekly market on sundays.
we traveled to the islands on canoes, and tracked down some hippo action! they're really sneaky and hang out underwater. they bob up to get some air and then go back underwater. sooooo i just got some headshots:


everyone in niger keeps their water in these clay pots to keep it cool. we went to the island where women make these pots for everyone in a large chunk of niger. their island was really cool, and their homes looked like they belonged in a dr. seuss book:

At night we slept at a fulani camp. fulani people are hearders, and soumana, the guy we stayed with, herded about 70 cattle for the nearby villages. he has 2 wives, two tents, and thats it! its awesome. his wives are beautiful, and soumana was so nice to us. he built us shelter for the night which was way cool. we stayed pretty much in the middle of nowhere. the landscape was flat and dry, and you could see from horizon to horizon. at night i saw more stars than i thought existed, and i saw the milky way! it was so nutty at one point i woke up and i thought, well, im in africa. this is so cool. sometimes i had to remind myself. i woke up off mymat, saw the 5 other ppl in our tent, heard a cow munching on our tent, and then walked out to see the stars. so cool i will never forget that night.
the next day, sunday, was the market. ppl from all over came by foot, bus, canoe, to go to this market. we saw all kinds of people, including beautiful women in traditional garb. what was really cool ws that we kept on seeing ppl we had met the previous days visiting the islands. also i got lost so many times, but thats part of the fun i suppose!


love naye/ayesha