Why It's Fun to Take Road Trips in Africa

You get to see all sorts of great stuff along the side of the road! These roadside images were taken during our recent trip to Bobo …

A herd of elephants very close to the road. Wouldn’t it be fun if you got to see elephants while driving down the Interstate on your way to work?

Termite hills the size of trees

The majestic baobab tree …. According to legends, the baobab tree was the most proud tree of all. One day the gods got tired of the tree bragging about its beauty, so they uprooted it and stuck it in the ground upside down with all its roots poking in to the air.

Heavy-laden mango trees … or mango trees dripping with mangos, as we like to say.

Cotton crops

This kid was at the lakeside rather than on the roadside but he was one of the cutest kids we’ve run across since we’ve been here so we have to include a photo. He loved to pose for the camera--I think he’s already run across many tourists in his short lifetime.

No, this is not an early morning mist – this is the poussière (dust) that comes with the harmattan (i.e. the dusty winds that blow in from the Sahara Dessert). Don’t worry, it’s not this bad all the time.

We should be seeing lots more interesting sites like this next week. Saturday, Aug. 1, through Sat. Aug. 8, we’ll be going back to Bobo and the surrounding countryside to visit several villages. We’ll be eating, sleeping, drinking, working and bathing in the villages, so it should be quite an experience.

The main purpose of the trip is to learn about life in the village and learn more about African culture. We’d appreciate prayers for good health as we eat new foods, drink potentially impure water and sleep on the ground. Most of all, please pray we’ll have opportunities to share our faith with the villagers, not only with our words but also our actions and attitudes.