Bamboung and me

by Hicham MAAZA (Algeria)

A leap into the unknown Senegal

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I never believed that I could find myself while being out of nowhere in a desert island called Bamboung on the delta Saloum in Senegal. Coming from Algeria with friends to participate on the climate camp 2k19, the four of us made the promise to discover the Senegal and pass by every costal city there. But let’s talk about Bamboung. My name is Hichem and my travelling and best friend Soum are spending 24H without sleeping between travelling by train, bus, and finally plane to get to Dakar with at least 35KG backpacks of equipment and provisions for our 10 days in Bamboung! After a little sleep on the floor of Dakar airport, we had to attend the bus which is going to lead us to Keur bamboung on the south. after 3 hours on the road in which we discussed with many Senegalese people we did finally arrive to our destination. It was around 6 A.M and to attend the island we had to travel by artisanal pirogues in groups of 15, and that’s where the adventure really begun. Senegalese people are sure not punctual but be sure: they know how to party! We singed scoots songs all around with deployed voices, Nathan the lead pathfinder was our orchestra chief and did gave us the tempo.. What a moment! Now we arrived at Bamboung, it was sunset time and we had to walk around 5Km with 35Kg carried on our backs but the paysage was that amazing that you forget about the lack of sleep and the extreme fatigue. Soum, I and our new friend Johnny were walking and talking about how magnificent is the view and how much it’s similar to the décor of a Vietnamese war movie with all that vegetation and solitude. After arriving the stars were out! I never saw stars shining that way. There was native habitants, welcoming us and showing us our tents and the place. It was a paradise where you could find some traditional houses made from wood and clay, a little open bar where you can find some Coca Cola and sit there to charge your phone when there was electricity. The next and after sleeping on the ground as I always liked while travelling there was a little opening ceremony of the project, but let’s not talk about the project and participants… let’s talk about the people living there, the island and the experience. The first I did was sympathizing with the owner of the mini-bar Yakouba who lives there from his childhood, we were always talking about how’s life here, their traditional food …etc. and guess what I had an invitation to his house. I came with some braj (traditional Algerian sweet) and accompanied him with Soum to their house where we met his father and wife. When you meet persons with not enough comfort in their lives but they keep smiling always, you start thinking about how selfish you are and not thankful for what life gave you... it’s an eye opener! The food! Uh the diner under a tarp with a hard tropical rain is biblical. That’s the moment you discover all recipes made with rice and share stories with Senegalese people about their country. And believe me the tropical rain is a different kind of rain, it could rain for hours and stop just suddenly. After 5 days there and more than 4Kg lost, I became to just walk around and discover places shirtless with no fear of insects or animals, nature obliges you to become wild. We had to go to a well 2Km far to get some water to shower with it, and with my total amazement I’ve always met some naked groups showering there and it felt weird! But what do we learn from all this in the end? Disconnecting from life and technology is good, making with nature only one is the best therapy a man could find. Whether the lack of hygiene, food, accommodations were difficult it didn’t matter in the end, because the only thing worthy is discovering new kinds of life and to get adapted to.