Animal Planet

The second week in Dakar has definitely felt like a never-ending episode of Animal Planet. It all started with a safari at Reserve de Bandia on Sunday. We got to see giraffes, zebras, ostriches and rhinos that all live in semi-captivity at the reserve. It was nothing like your typical trip to the zoo. We got up close and personal with some tricky ostriches that wouldn’t get out of our way. It almost felt like our own version of the Lion King, seeing Pumba and Zazu along the way. Although I love zebras and giraffes, I think my favorite animal was the West African Antelope (shown below). Its twisted horns are majestic and it saddened me to learn that people kill them to take their horns as trophies. We also learned about how an ancient Senegal tradition was to bury griots, the lowest class of people, in trees instead of the ground. This was said to prevent droughts. Luckily, a law has been passed banning this practice, although, there were many unexpected droughts after the tradition ceased.

The next segment of our animal filled week began in the wee hours of Tuesday morning when I was pulled from my sleep due to blood-chilling screams for help. I enter the hallway to learn that two big lizards had found their way into my team member’s room. Unfortunately, her door was locked so we could not get to her. But to her disadvantage, one lizard was firmly planted on the door. After convincing the man who works the desk and speaks no English to stop trying to break down her door and smash her window, we finally got her to calm down. Wooooosaaaaaaaa. It took about 20 minutes but then all of a sudden she built up the courage to get out. We here her take off for the door, rustle with the key for what felt like forever and finally bust out of her lizard prison and sprint down the hallway to make sure she was as far away as possible. Needless to say, she slept in my room that night. The next day, we moved her furniture from the walls and picked up all the curtains from the floor. Yet again, the next night, another lizard had found its way into her room. She has since moved out of the room.

Okay, lizard problem solved? No way. We thought we were rid of them but just last night my other team member ran from her room after she saw a mouse run across her table. You can best believe that there is currently a rug under my door. This animal planet episode has to end… SOON. My entire team has been a bit squeamish when it comes to animals and weird rustling noises these days. We even check the hallways before we enter them to make sure the lizards aren’t crawling up the walls or hiding behind hanging pictures. It has definitely been an interesting week here in Senegal but I am confident that my team and I will survive this unwavering Animal Planet.