Exotic places unfortunatly sometimes come with a cost... We've had Typhoid, Malaria, Tyfus (Tickbite Fever), Giardia and Amoebic Dysentry, plus a nasty throat infection in Chad that my wife thought might be the end of me!. The problem with many exotic places is that you are all on your own, and must face that fact before one goes. Forget much help from locals as they just look at you as an oddity, as they rarely see any white people. Not to mention that "Inshallah" comes into the equation in their opinion!

One thing that we saw in northern africa in general is that there is VERY little wildlife left. An odd gazelle here and there is all we saw for the most part. We met a Toureg in Niger who wanted us to join him in a hunt for some gazelle meat. His plan was to run any he saw over with his Landcruiser! An odd way to tenderize meat!

Game manegment is not much known or understood in northern africa it seemed. Some west african countrys like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin and Togo do have game left, but poaching is rife, as we could see from what was sold at food and Fetish/Voodoo markets.

Erik D.

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