The Great Trail Building Party

Ever since I the first time I walked out to the Ségou waterfalls a year ago I have dreamed rebuilding the trail that leads to it. For me, the idea of throwing rocks around in the woods with purpose is about as good as it gets. Last week I finally got that chance.

When the villagers first decided to try to make Ségou a tourist attraction several years ago they built a “road” half way out the falls up to the point where the trail joins the streambed. That part of the trail is still in good shape, although it is currently overgrown with tall grass that blinds you as you try bike through. It also drops seed into the back of your mouth which is impossible to get out. Aside from that, it is fairly level and even, so we decided to concentrate on the part of the trail that follows the stream. For four days eight other volunteers and I camped out at the start of the stream-trail and worked our way up to the waterfalls. During the day we were joined by three to five locals from my village. (The idea that it would be fun to camp out in the woods seems scary, stupid, and weird to them.) Each morning we would get up, have breakfast, and then set out to work on the trail. Around one we would break for lunch and tea. Like always, making tea took several hours, something I did not mind one bit since I had strung up my hammock between two stands of bamboo. After tea was finally done, we would rush out to get in one more hour’s worth of work before the light faded. Returning to camp those of us spending the night made a few drinks and settled down around the fire for an entertaining evening of conversation and swapping stories. Adding to the conversation, we were joined by two Belgian tourists who were passing through, Nick and Katherine. They bought a van in Belgium, outfitted it as a camper, and saved up enough money to travel around West Africa for a year. If there was a best way to travel in Africa, I would say that they found it. A number of us took photos of their van with dreams of replicating it some day. Meeting interesting folks like Nick and Katherine has been one of the more interesting and unexpected parts of my experience over here.

Working on the trail itself was a heck of a lot of fun. We all had big smiles on our faces the whole time as we were chopping with machetes, throwing big rocks down hills, and jumping into pools in the stream whenever we had the chance. Each of us lost about 15 years of maturity while we were out there. The best part about it was that even though we were acting like children just playing around, we were actually accomplishing something meaningful. Now it only takes half an hour to cover the distance we cleared whereas before it took over an hour and was dangerous to the ankles of those who are not accustomed to rock hopping. Now that the trail is done the ecolodge is one big step closer to being fully operational. We just need to get the doors on the bathrooms and clear the paths in the lodge and we can start publicizing the ecolodge to guides and local tourism operators. WOOHOO!