long time in coming

I spent yesterday and the day before on the long voyage down to Bamako from Gao, a trip of about 20 hours by bus but by Peace Corps shuttle 15 hours or less. The change of the landscape over the trip is drastic. The dry desert of Gao and the sand dunes pockmarked with shrubs change to the high cliffs and mesa of Hombori and Boni in Mopti Region. The outcroppings of rocks gradually diminish to fields, deforested and eroded by slash and burn techniques. Then town after town crowds along the guidron , the main highway down from the north, and the women and children of each little seemingly identical village lines up the tomatoes or cassava roots or peanuts, piles and piles, attempting to sell whatever they can to the passing cars and buses. I see encouraging signs of development projects including community gardens and woodlots, filled with tall eucalyptus trees shivering in the wind. I also see discouraging signs of poverty in these “cookie cutter” villages south of Sevare, trying to scrape a living off the land, but slowly being buried in trash. Cookie cutter is obviously not the appropriate term.

It may be because I’m unfamiliar with the cultures of the South, their history and lifestyles, but I think I’ve been spoiled by the cultural diversity of the north and its rich traditions. When I head down to this region of the country, the view out the window becomes boring and even depressing and I truly feel separated from the people in our air conditioned car, speeding by, only slowed down by the speed bumps they’ve placed at the entrance and exit of the town, a protective measure for the children and adults running back and forth across the highway on their daily errands.

In the beginning of the trip, I enjoyed watching the camels reaching up, bending their necks like a pool noodle, eating the few leaves remaining on the trees as hot season approaches and food becomes scarce. The elephants have evolved in the same way, using their trunks and tusks to shake leaves off the trees. The goats gathered beneath them benefit from the leaves the elephants have missed, a symbiotic relationship, one of many in the Gourma. On my trip down yesterday I started to think about the dependent relationships including those that exist between humans and animals here.
In the states, unless you are a farmer or a rancher, you are disconnected from the animals that provide us with our food and products of daily life. Here, I walk out my front door every morning and have to dodge cows and goats to just get to the bathroom. My family spends a good part of their day, preparing and setting out the food for their animals and for this work, they get some milk and occasionally some meat, when they slaughter a goat.
Their animals are like their bank account, when they need money they sell a cow or goat, and when holidays come and its time to celebrate they tap into their funds, and have a special meal, one goat or two eaten over three days, meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their choice of investment is not necessarily the most secure option with the threats of drought and desertification but banking isn’t readily available. The nearest caisse de credit and savings system I know of is 3 hours away.
Even between the elephants and the humans there are numerous connections and relations, although some growing increasingly complicated and negative. With dwindling resources and easy access to the farmers’ fields of millet and sorghum, an elephant will sometimes serve him or herself from the storage granaries located in the fields. As they pass through these increasingly agricultural areas in the southern part of their range they are put at risk of falling into the large, deep watering holes that farmers dig to water their fields. If they fall in, they can’t get out on their own, and if the government is unable to get a crane there in time, the elephant may die. The elephants for the most part have started avoiding large population areas, choosing to “streak” through areas where there are human settlements, to get through as quickly as possible. Females and Calves are especially wary of humans, and tourists are advised to stay far from them. Near Gossi, my site, there is a group of males who brave Gossi mare, a heavily populated zone for the region, and where most of the rest of the herd will not come. When you go to see them, they are aware of you but don’t hurry off and continue on with their business.

It can be a tense relationship at times, especially when an elephant has just eaten someone’s reserves for hot season. Yet the people here appreciate and claim the elephants as their own and I have confidence that with education and discussion this relationship can continue to be a positive one and just as the humans here get along with their own herd they can also share the land with a much bigger herd that we all own.