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...cont'd
InGall
We are staying in the
walled compound our expedition team stayed
in in 1993. The cedar tree is larger and
the big double metal blue doors - just
wide enough to drive a Land Rover through
- have a new coat of paint. The old mud
brick house, originally a long walkway with
a series of identical small rooms, has been
knocked down and replaced with a new building
- with high ceilings, glass windows and
circular ventilation. The adobe building,
like adobes in the southwestern United States,
stays cool during the day and warm in the
evening. For a toilet there is a hole in
the ground behind a wall and for a shower,
there is a private walled area with a large
basin. The water runs through a little hole
in the floor onto the street outside.
A rooftop
view of the mud brick houses of the oasis
town of In Gall.
Two friends
at Cure Salee
InGall is a town that
time may forget. It is often described as
a dying town, and even as already dead.
Originally on the route north from Niamey
to Agadez and Arlit, InGall - and the people
living here - was isolated when the road
was paved in the 1970s to support uranium
mining it deviated away from the oasis.
InGall has no electricity
other than a scatter of private solar panels.
Although it does have water - and more this
year than in nearly a decade - the water
is infamously salty and close to the surface.
Many people, including our team, have brought
tanks of water from Agadez with them to
drink during the festival.
During the rebellion
in the early 90s, InGall was one of the
last military outposts on the frontier and
its history as a walled fort city are evident
even now, when so many of the buildings
are deserted. Crumbling walls - high enough
that you would need to be on camel-back
to see over them - reveal spacious courtyards
and decrepit, simple structures that might
have housed 10 or 20 people apiece. The
vast majority of these have been abandoned
and it seems, that InGall will, in time,
become a ghost town.
A few days
vacation.
Tonight, as I write
by the glow of solar lantern light, it is
as dark as the desert, and the stars are
yellow pin pricks in the sky. There is no
moon at all, and constellations - Pegasus,
the Little Dipper - along with the Andromeda
galaxy and the North star are easily found
by Eric, who gives an impromptu sky tour
to the team and some Peace Corps Volunteers
who are visiting the compound. The festival
usually attracts tourists, but this year,
on the tail of the Flamme du Paix, and a
Peace Corps Training session in Agadez,
there are an unusual number of Americans
in town - nearly 50.
Chris and one of the
women from the Peace Corps swap recipes
for macaroni and cheese in the field - Chris'
recipe requires dehydrated cheese powder;
hers requires "Vache qui rie" - a processed
cheese product that comes in little triangles
and doesn't need refrigeration. It's one
of our treats in the field.
When the breeze dies
down, you can hear the echoing chants of
the Wodabee performing a traditional dance
by men accompanied by long swaying calls
and responses. Even at this late hour, roosters
are crowing and there is a dog barking.
The barking dog is not,
incidentally, Dino. After a carsick ride
from Camp 1 to Agadez, we decided to spare
Dino the drive to InGall and have left him
in the care of our guard, Moussa and his
three children.
Tomorrow - more festivities,
then back to Agadez and back to the field.
Gabrielle
Lyon
Team Member, 2000 Expedition to Niger.
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