border patrol

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I remember an incident from my trip through the Sudan in 1984. We did not give thanks right away but I reckon the locals saved us from possible danger. We arrived too late at the border to be processed that night so we pulled off the main road about one km. into the desert to set up camp. A couple of locals followed us and started gesticulating and chatting. As the one who spoke the most French, I was called over by Mark. The chap wanted us to camp closer to the village and river. We preferred to be off on our own as we were less likely to have people staring at us. I told them this. They were very insistent.
After a few minutes of back and forth I was finally able to understand their comments and it became clear why they were being so adamant. To say that hippos are territorial can be an understatement; so, although not carnivores, they are the most dangerous animals in Africa. And just the night before, a rampaging hippo had killed a village woman who was walking in the "wrong" area - which happened to be where we were setting up camp. We quickly moved closer to the village.

So, although the group may have not said it at the time or shown our appreciation for their advice, I now say thank you!