Life in a Fulani Village in Senegal | The Meridian Expedition
Visiting a Fulani village in Northern Senegal.Currently in a remote village called Doumga, North-East of Senegal. There are only 7.5 thousand people living in the region, which is divided into a number of smaller villages. The one we are staying in tonight has appx. 300 households.
And the border of Mauritania is pretty close too. That means - we are back to the Sahara desert. Sand, sand and sand. The heat is bearable, reaching +45 degrees Celcius in the shade. The trick is to put on extra layers of clothing and you won't lose as much liquid by sweating. And stay in the shade, since in the open it can get much hotter.
We are here because we were assisting the transportation of 5 tonnes of rice, 500 kg of sugar, 100 kg of fish and loads of anti-septic gel - a donation from the good people in Dakar, to this remote villages. The roads are paved with roadblocks, checking the vehicles for authorisations, since it is still not allowed to get out of cities without one. It's good, the police in Senegal are here to protect the citizens and assist them.
We spent the day exploring the village and learning the people to know. It turned out that it is inhabited by Fula people - a large ethnic group of West Africa (and more). they are mainly nomadic, usually staying in a place for no more than three months. But this village, like many others in the 20th century, have opted to an urban way of living.
They speak French and their Fula language. It was useless to google the lexicon for this language, since it has appx. 11 dialects and the few words we found online were different from the ones we heard in the streets.
We also had the chance to visit the local hospital and were please to see that they even have their own ambulance! The hospital pharmacy is stocked well (of course, there is not much by international standards).
Even though the region is a deserted one, if you go a little more north, you will stumble upon a beautiful river. The water was beautifully clean and had a hint of blue.
Around it there are a number a villages, scattered in this picturesque view. Yes, the houses are old and built of natural materials (prevents the interior from overheating, by the way). But if you take a closer look, you will spot the satellite dish, indicating that the household is much more developed than you might think.
In another village we noticed a payphone, but it was out of order. I will call home another day then.
At some point we got lost and had to use the compass to get back on the big road. It took us a while, but it was worth it - we saw the beautiful landscapes that we didn’t expect to see.
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