Elephants!

So I finally felt like I was in Africa this past weekend (and maybe after the pictures some of you will believe me too)! In fact, it felt more like a ride at the Animal Kingdom at Disney World at some points, but then I had to remind myself that I was actually seeing real animals. Unfortunately Burkina Faso doesn’t have the great selection of typical “African” animals as many other African countries (I’m jealous of my friend in Kenya), but I guess any animal I see here, really, is African :).

So this past weekend five friends and I went to the Nasinga Park in southern Burkina. It's near Pô which is very close to the border of Ghana. The park is a HUGE plot of land (91,000 hectars) that was started by a Canadian missionary to help Africans in raising animals, but was taken over and is now run by the government. It’s about a four hour drive from Ouagadougou, and Ouaga is about 2 hrs from Yako- a LONG day of travel (both ways). Unfortunately I was a bit sick last week as well (no, it wasn’t from eating goat head, but thank you everyone for your concerns for my health! :) ), but felt much better for the trip thankfully!

So after the three hour drive to the outer gate of the park, we had an hour drive into our campsite on really rough roads. We had our first tour the night we got in and were sad to not see elephants. Our guide explained that it’s better viewing in the morning though. We did see baboons, TONS of antelope, a gazelle (tiny! I thought they were big), some big birds, and warthogs. For the evening we had a meal of antelope- the catch of the day. Because my stomach was a still a little icky I couldn’t eat much, but I thought it tasted good! (Brittany and I were the only ones who liked it). It kind of tasted like one of Mom’s roasts. We slept in little “huts” and they only had electricity from 6-10pm. Needless to say it’s a bit hot to sleep without a fan in there, but I guess it was good preparation for the upcoming hot season here (even had to wet myself down during the night a couple times).

Our huts

In the morning we got up bright and early and went out at the first light for another tour. We weren’t seeing a thing (do African animals sleep in unlike the African people??) but soon came around a corner and there was an elephant! For the morning tour Brittany, Cathlin, and I sat on the top of the car for a better view (way cooler view, though a little uncomfortable as we had forgotten a mat or something to sit on as many of the other groups had brought). So when we came face to face with the elephant, it was exciting! And when he started looking at us and flapping his ears/moving his feet a little and our guide said rather quickly, “Avance avance!! (advance)” two of us got a little nervous and helped the driver by shouting GO! :) Saw some more antelopes, baboons, and a few African buffalo which are apparently rare to see! As we neared the end of our tour we came upon three more elephants! They were all eating a lot and one broke a tree because he wanted the leaves at the top. So cool to just sit and watch them enjoying their breakfast.

Our ride!

Beautiful and so close!

In the bush!
The restaurant where we ate for the weekend was located right at a watering hole where the elephants play in the morning, so when we returned from the tour we got to eat breakfast and watch about a dozen elephants playing in the water.

At the watering hole- not rocks behind me!

Probably the coolest thing though, was on the way back to Ouaga- past Pô- a man flagged us down and we started to slow and saw a family of elephants crossing the road!! This was outside the park! It was like being in MI and the deer crossing, only way cooler (and probably way more dangerous to get in a car accident). A great weekend and a chance to see some more of God’s awesome creation! Elephants crossing!

A servant for Him,

~Liz