On our last day of my Senegalese spring break, we decided to visit a nearby Bedik village in the morning before beginning our homeward journey. Though my tendonitis (I have been fortunate enough to have undergone two knee surgeries in the past year) kicked in full force on the steep hike up to the village, my pains were generously recompensed by walking amongst the village itself. The Bedik from Iwol hold fast to both a rich culture and history. And they know it. A battered folder containing laminated pictures and the Bedik’s history in about five languages was placed on our lap. We each paid 1000 CFA for the oral history of the village—told by a representative of the chief as the chief himself was away—and a trip to Senegal’s largest Baobab tree. The Bedik’s history, copied hastily from folder, goes a little something like this:

Founded by the Keita and Camara families from Mali escaping tribal warfare and the army headed by the terrible Alpha Yaya. Escapees lived in caves and ground their millet with stones so as not to make any noise. They sacrificed eighteen of their strongest young men for help and guidance in the war. They were saved by a swarm of bees that stung and killed Alpha Yaya’s warriors. Alpha Yaya escaped to Guinea. And that is how the Bedik of Iwol won their freedom.

Other Village Lore:
One Bedick woman and her twins did not escape Alpha Yaya in time and he killed her and her babies. A spirit changed the bodies to stone and their statues can be found next to …..
The Sacred Baobab tree, at 23.3 meters in circumference, it is supposedly the largest in Senegal. The bodies of the village founders are buried at its base.

Not far from the Baobab is The Sacred “Fromager” Tree that cries bloody-murder when it is cut with an axe. If women and children pound their millet near it, their eyes will become swollen and their bellies bloated. Only the blood of a goat can satisfy the devil within the tree.

With 496 inhabitants, the village is composed of four families: the Kietas (the chiefs of the village), the Camaras (responsible for village festivals), the Samouras (also responsible for village festivals), and the Sadiakou (responsible for preserving village traditions).

The village survives off of money made from a small cotton crop and tourism. Funnily enough, the Bedik village is hot destination for Spanish tourists (which I had not, prior to this trip, encountered in Senegal). Uneducated children in the area know more Spanish than French.

Upon descending from the Bedik’s hilltop, we began our long long journey home…

The Long Long Journey Home: It took thirty some hours. The Alham was not up to the homeward trip. And this we discovered around 11 pm in a small roadside village. Where we spent the next three hours waiting for a Dakar-bound mini bus from Kedegou. We gathered our bags by the side of the road and slept amongst them, encircled by all of the village’s children who gaped at us for our full three-hour stay. I can’t say I remember much of that night or the next day of travel as I was in and out of sleep, the heavy heat folding my limbs and pressing on my eyelids.

And that is it, my friends.

The Incredible Senegalese Journey March 2005.

Apologies for wordiness and lengthy number of chapters, but my senses were so thoroughly stimulated by this trip that I simply could not let some details go.