 |
| Boats on
the Niger at sunset |
The river bus, called a pinasse,
goes where passengers ask it to go. Journeys are long, and may last for days. Among the
passengers (the pinasse can take up to 200 passengers) you can find traders
carrying goods from town to town, tourists on their way to Timbuktu, local people going to
visit relatives, and usually some animals in their own area of the bus. The driver keeps the
bus going all night and keeps his eye on the weather, in case the boat needs to shelter
from a storm.
"I'm not afraid of the river.
I just love it. Even when the boat has got stuck I just get down into the water and dive
down to free the propeller. I couldn't manage my life without the river; it has always
been part of my life.
River spirits might exist: I've heard
people telling stories about them, but I've never seen one myself ... People sometimes say that when
they're out on the river, driving their boats, they sometimes see strange lights which
mislead them, draw them onto sandbanks. Others say that they have seen huge monsters in
the water, but I've never seen one." Halidou Maiga, pinasse (water-bus) driver |
