Hola chicos,
Yesterday I had the awesome experience of visiting Bandia, a nature reserve on the way to the town I will be teaching in this week. Bandia was a little out of the way and I was a bit stuffy in a hot van crammed with other teachers and all of our luggage for 5+ hours but it was worth it! I have never been on a safari and didn't really know what to expect... but after
experiencing it, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going at least once in your life. Our guide spoke English and guided us through the beautiful reserve full of rhinos, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, buffalo, crocodiles and so many more new animals that I have never seen before. One of my favorite parts was driving next to a herd of ostriches running away from us. Their behinds looked so funny bouncing up and down in the air. We also got to see a mama ostrich sitting on tons of eggs! There were so many eggs that some were poking out from under her and a few couldn't even fit underneath. Turns out, the mama ostriches take turns sitting on everyone's eggs and the males sit on the eggs at night!
I also learned that the White Rhino had to have it's horn cut off so that poachers would not come on the reserve and try and kill the rhino for its horn.
The most interesting but also most somber thing I learned was about the Griot people. On the reserve there are many Baobab trees. These trees have hollow trunks and were used to store the bodies of Griots who were not able to have a proper burial in the earth. I learned that the Griot people believe that they honored the land with their sweat. Then, when they died, the Earth would accept them into the land. However, some Griots were musicians or scribes and did not work the land during their lifetime. Since
they did not "honor the land" through their sweat, they we not allowed to be buried in the earth. Instead, their bodies were put inside the hollow Baobab trees. This continued until 1960! Even recently, some people tried to ask if they could continue the practice because they thought it was the reason they were having a bad harvest year and the government said no. I did take a picture of the skulls so you could see them but I didn't put El Pulpo in the picture. It just didn't seem right. After visiting this hollow tree everyone in the group was silent. It was definitely something I did not expect to see on safari.
On a positive note, I have made it to my village! I will be teaching in Louga next week and I can't wait! My host teacher is a super nice man named Mansour and he welcomed us when we got into town even though we were many hours late.
Ba been for now,
Senora Traub
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