Boromo Elephants are amazing

Wow what a wonderful experience going to Boromo to see the elephants.

First the ride to Boromo – we took a bus ride of some 2h30min and the bus line TCV is definitely the best. Nice clean bus with air conditioning and even a movie during the trip. Quite impressed. The road was also good. Once we got there we were met by Abrahim who escorted us to our “hotel” with his donkey and cart – the cart was to put our luggage but since we only had small packs we decided to just walk along with him – 15 min later we were in this quaint little place called “Sama Camp” with huts and some rooms for guests. (

Sidebar: Although Boromo is a lot smaller than Ouagodougou it also has some of the same garbage and smells – and the people are also somewhat in your face asking to buy their wares or asking you to give them a gift of money. The kids run after you screaming “Nassara, Nassara” wanting to shake your hand – and maybe hoping for a little something ($$) ...

We left our luggage at the camp and off we were to see the elephants. Rented a couple of motorcycles (2 passengers per) and followed Pierre (my neighbour) who was our guide since he had been there already for 2 days. The roads were terrible – sandy and full of potholes so reduced speed all the way. The 8km trek took us 45 min (slow, slow) with a few nervous moments trying to keep on track with the road and not slip sliding away because of the sand. We finally got to our destination and stayed for approx. 4 hours – no elephants in sight so quite the disappointment. We got back to Sama camp and had a great supper with great conversation. Our host is named Salif  (he was the interim boss as the owners went away for a few days) - a social worker in Boromo who deals with issues such as excision, family violence and sensitizing the population about precautions to take against AIDS/HIV – a burkinabé man preoccupied by women issues – sooo interesting. Of course we asked him a ton of questions and he was so open with us about their challenges, their misconceptions and their somewhat backward ways that he was dedicated to change. A great evening, with great food and of course some good wine to celebrate the occasion.

The next morning – prior to leaving again with our motorbikes to hopefully see the elephants – we had breakfast and we settled our accounts with the hotel. Since we had invited Salif to supper the night before we wanted to pay for it but then we were privied to a very heated domestic argument. Abrahim did not want us to pay for Salif’s meal since Salif was the “interim” boss – but his wife Assita was fairly verbal in the fact that it was the arrangement – they argued to the point where Assita broke down in tears screaming at hear husband – we did not understand everything that was being said but we got the message – the husband rules and the wife is not suppose to argue. Not wanting to get Assita in any trouble (i.e. a possible beating from the husband) we called Salif to guide us on what was the proper thing do you under the circumstances. He settled the issue by us paying and all was well at the end – giving us the assurance that Assita was not going to pay dearly later on.

Back on the motorbikes we finally got to the spot where the elephants usually are seen (at around 10h30) and we had the most fantastic spectacle. There must have been about 30 elephants no more than 50 feet away from us on the other side of the bank of a narrow river. They gave us quite the show for about 2 hours - playing, breast feeding, eating of the branches, bathing and even a mother disciplining one of her teenager elephant’s for having been to ruff with a baby elephant. It was absolutely amazing. I will try to put the videos I got on You Tube once I figure how to do it.

We then came back to Ouaga via a different bus line - probably more indicative of the average African travel experience. Old bus with seats that are worn down, no ventilation expect for open windows. Coming back into Ouaga was a bit depressing because the sand and smog where so thick you could hardly see more than 500 feet in front of you – but that is Ouaga.

Back home now – the shower was well deserved – the one problem with Sama Camp is that they don’t really have showers or toilets. They have a communal shower stall where you bathe with a water bucket – and the toilet is another stall with a hole directly into the pit with cockroaches crawling/flying around. But it is a great place for a night (but maybe not 2) unless those little inconveniences don’t really bother you.

My next blog will probably be on Friday – will let you know how my week went.