Into Africa

April 28: In the Wild

When one mentions Africa, what comes to mind? Jungle? Desert? Wild animals? Tiny round huts in the middle of the savannah? I can say now, after my trip to the Wild Animal National Park in the north of Benin, I have seen wild animals and tiny huts in the middle of a vast African plain....

My most memorable time in the park was the night we camped in one of the lookouts at "Hippo Lake." We put up a mosquito net inside the lookout for a makeshift tent and covered the floor with camping mattresses and sheets. The roof of the lookout was damaged, but it actually allowed us to sleep out under the stars, which are most brilliant in the desert-like park, far from any civilization. Chris, Kyra, and I plus at least 20 hippopotami slept peacefully, when not bothered by that ever-annoying buzzing of mosquitoes, until sunrise over the lake. Do you know that hippopotami snore? It was a gorgeous sunrise, reflecting beautiful oranges and pinks on the crystal surface of the lake, interrupted with large brown lumps. The morning baths for the hippos were quite amusing to watch, but we did not risk entering their haven to wash off. When hippos open their large mouths and show their enormous square teeth one can be frightened, especially because hippos are supposed to be one of the fiercest creatures when they are upset.

My mini-safari was a wonderful getaway from the city of Cotonou. I took in new sights and breathed in the pure, zemi-john-free air. Riding on top of the jeep through the African savannah, I was waiting for the camera crew of Out of Africa to pop out at any minute. It was not the first time that I wondered if this is really my life or rather a movie that I am watching.

During the last week of April 2002, as Signe was finishing her exams and wrapping up her time in Benin, she was interviewed and offered a job – by long-distance teleconferencing. She has been teaching French since August 2002 at the Africentric School, a kindergarten-tenth grade charter school based on African principles in Columbus, Ohio, just two hours from her parents’ home.