The trip
"A large market on one of the most fascinating of the Sahel, ¡Fauleux Palette extra ethnicities and cotumes .... With eyes still bright, I dropped the net and close my Guide du Routard suspended as a promise on that last paragraph. Usually I get to travel guides between skepticism and fascination. In my long history of agreements and disagreements with them is a succession of disappointments, curses, disagreements and occasionally also fair to recognize, unpayable findings.
Travelling without reading a guide is like going to a movie without knowing the argument, naked, no references, exposed to the surprise and amazement. But what pleasure there is to read before you make a trip! Leave taken in by words sensual, by promises of charlatans further fueling our desire to know the places we have dreamed!. Read before you travel is almost always travel twice. "L'a des plus fascinants du Sahel" ... Today I think I can not sleep! Duermevela in two words haunt me like ghosts "Gorom-Gorom". The next stage of my wandering African, be one of the lost corners of Africa, in the bowels of the Sahel.
The next stage of my wandering African, be one of the lost corners of Africa, in the bowels of the Sahel
Gorom-Gorom, means "Sit, let's sit down ". Hospital until the name, is located in northern Burkina Faso, embedded between the foothills desert of Niger and Mali. It is a forgotten territory, lunar, dry, sometimes almost unreal. The standard parade scenery; Dunes, some shrubs, the thorny thicket of acacias, monotony broken only occasionally by the lonely grandeur of a baobab. I have a couple of days wandering in the Sahel, from village to village; so, Money, Like, Marcoy, always to the North. As the vegetation dwarfs, stunted , reduced the minimum expression, faces bloom in a burst of diversity lush, wild and proud.
Still incredulous half an hour later I pack on his motorcycle Tuareg dress fashion
I'm on to Dori and Gorom-Gorom, just get a truck all week. It is packed!We will have to fend. In Africa a desperate, hope shines, negative assimilates, turns to despair ... To see how everything is a simple solution just as the referee is about to whistle the end of the game. -I have a bike, We can go in it! Me dice triunfante Camel, To have said before, I thought you wanted to go by truck! naturally laughs. Still incredulous half an hour later I pack on his motorcycle Tuareg dress fashion.
We run at full speed, through the dust. Between the cracks of my turban, I guess just ghostly apparitions in the dust. Scattered Jobs, donkey carts run by kids, Women who carry balances on her head for the meager goods offered in the market.
Sahel is impossible to understand without their markets. Commercial desire is the real pitch that regulates life here. Their nomadic move them according to. On Monday Marcoy, on Tuesday Orsy, Wednesday at Gorom-Gorom .., and the entire region moves in a constant and regulated pilgrimage where sometimes travel thirty miles or more with only a handful of tomatoes to sell. Today is Wednesday, and nomads cling to the road and face the dust going in a circuitous Gorom-Gorom trickle, the market's most northern Burkina Faso, the last frontier before the jaws of the Niger desert.
Halfway down a police car gives the high. Since my arrival in Africa a tenacious spectrum has haunted me, the shadow of Al -Quaeda and fear of kidnapping
Halfway down a police car gives the high. Since my arrival in Africa a tenacious spectrum has haunted me, the shadow of Al -Quaeda and fear of kidnapping. The state's presence in this region is stunted, almost negligible. Its inhabitants, terrorists are a legend, a white madness, Sarkozy a twisted plot to kill its tourism. No one has actually seen "the bearded AQIM". However upon my arrival in Niger they have been kidnapped two Frenchmen in the heart of the capital Niamey, in the same place just hours before enjoying a beer. 24 hours and a rescue attempt after two charred bodies lying in the desert. The Embassy of Spain discouraged the area, the absence of tourists and the siren song dela Guide du Routard are stronger. Police orders me to remove the turban, I seem suspect, inspected my passport and I wonder why I dress like those of Al-Qaeda; I answer that to hide from them. The cop looks at me dumbfounded, I suspect that neither of them really know what the fall-winter fashion Islamic terrorist half. -"If I were a terrorist and I saw you dressed like that would take you without hesitation," he says. Overwhelming logic African.
"If I were a terrorist and I saw you dressed like that would take you without hesitation," he says. Overwhelming logic African
Two hours' drive after, when Tamel and I are just a speck of dust and dirt rolling bubbled over forty-five degrees, the horizon bristles and a city seems to emerge from the bowels of the earth . The brown color of a maze of adobe houses welcomes us, we have come to Gorom-Gorom. At first glance it looks like a disconsolate villorrio of the many that are scattered across the Sahel. However, in the maze of alleys, Babylon is ...!
Nor in any other African market, India and the spectacular Aymara markets I could see that burst of color and life. Seems to have gathered all the nomads of the Sahel in their finery: Songays, Fulani, mossys, beautiful ... all mixed in a nondescript ethnic collage. More than a thousand languages ??seem to resonate in the ramshackle confines of this African Babel, simple wooden stalls are occasionally overwhelmed by the herd of camels leads a proud Tuareg, while downloading his whip on staff to make their way. The Tuaregs beautiful or black despite abolished serfdom years continue in practice following the instructions of his master. The women look great henna tattoos, clad in multicolored fabrics that contrast with the sadness of the landscape. Suddenly I find myself immersed in the Middle Ages!
The women look great henna tattoos, clad in multicolored fabrics that contrast with the sadness of the landscape. Suddenly I find myself immersed in the Middle Ages!
And in the stands ... baobab leaves, peanuts, dates, ginger shakes, any hint of nutrient you may have stolen the desert. Everything can be edible, and especially usable salable. Here the real Africa beats to the rhythm of their ceremonies, their endless greetings, their teas blazing heat of the Sahel, pace with their markets. The real Africa beats in Gorom-Gorom.
I spend all morning walking like an automaton their stalls. In that time interval only encounter two white. A couple of German backpackers with barely a look of amazement crossed, a conspiratorial wink between Western to ensure that we are not dreaming. Some nomads ask us if we are not laughing fear of being kidnapped "the bearded". I do not know if I have fear, but I suspect that this could hide until the very Bin Laden.
I asked one bearded pirate as they manage to raise such large herds of cattle from the rigors of the desert. It is easy, are stolen!
The afternoon is spent peaceful. In the market stockyard some Tuaregs invite us to a tea. I asked one bearded pirate as they manage to raise such large herds of cattle from the rigors of the desert. It is easy, are stolen! Tamel assures me that Yusufi, (and called my partner) and his family are one of the most renowned cattle rustlers in this part of the Sahel. I raise my hot tea in his honor and pleased smiles Yusufi. I note that one of his sons came to live in Philadelphia married an American girl, behold the boy who does not reach thirty. Can not remember a word of English. What did you think Philadelphia asked? -Cold! responds.
The sun sets and the swarm of stalls disappeared as if by magic, Youssoufi and his family reordered their flocks - "Beware of the" bearded "- me farewell with a smile twirling the knob. The great caravan multicolor start again, Nomads laboriously undertake the oft-repeated route, horse riding, donkey, or at the foot. On Monday Orsy, Tuesday at Marcoy, Wednesday at Gorom-Gorom ....., well until the dragon of globalization, drought or war put an end to their way of life, So, repeating a story that even the best guide in the world may reflect. The history of this corner of the end of the world.
Practical information
Getting there: There are generally three weekly buses from neighboring Dori SOGEBAF , although usually not exact estafrecuencia.
Where to Sleep: There is only one decent housing in the village. The Auberge People , costs about 8 euros for a double room.
Where to Eat: Usually popular restaurants around the market, advisable women's craft center, platos burkinabeses, with rice, chicken and lamb. Excellent the ice Brakina (the best beer in the country).
Around: The mining of gold d'Isskane, possibility of hiking a couple of days by camel or follow up Oursy, oasis in the desert of great ornithological.
