Heron on the Nile
picture gallery >>>
<<<< >>>>
  Kadugli and Dilling Walk in the Woods Wed 17 Nov 2004  

Wed 17 Nov

Adam and I awoke around sunrise and lay in our beds for a while listening to the BBC. I listen to their programmes most weekday mornings and whenever I hear the cockerel it reminds me of my travels across Africa and in particular living in Zanzibar. Now, I am delighted to discover that Adam too is a keen listener. He knows the names of the presenters and it turns out they are his friends and companions on the long evenings when the town power is off, and for the first hour or so after sunrise, when he brings his bedding in from the yard and enjoys his lie-in indoors.

For whatever reason, Adam was reluctant to take me out to surrounding villages. He had also rented-out half of his house and no longer had a kitchen - or even a kettle. Frustratingly, this meant going down to the souq for every meal or drink.

We went for a walk, stopping for sweet tea and fresh "zelabeya" (donuts). We crossed the bridge (where there is a river in the rainy season) to his mother's, but he had not called ahead and disappointingly she was not in. Instead we drank a glass of water and watched his youngest brother take some mate's bicycle apart with only a spanner – a sort of hammer, screw-driver spanner – kind of spanner. When he rolled the nicely greased wheel bearings in the dust I thought his art of bicycle maintenance was seriously suspect, but somehow it all went back together again with no parts left over.

We walked on through the remains of a mahogany plantation dating back to colonial times. Sadly the forestry office these days seem solely concerned with checking charcoal permits; slowly, one by one, the plantation trees are being chopped down with no replacements in sight.

After a mile or so, in the blazing sun, we came across the town reservoir, and beyond that the water works. This too had seen better days. There are a number of storage tanks mounted on towers and a diesel engine pump keeps them topped up. However, I got the impression that the town's supply system had mostly failed and nowadays. The water is collected by donkey carts bearing pairs of 44 gallon oil drums welded together; each load being delivered for 450 dinars (about UKŁ1).

In the late afternoon, I went back to the cinema, and got some lovely photos of the projectionist joining reels of film with Sellotape.

<<<< >>>>