Axel-Rod Gym

Just recently we found a little gym in Rosso (my regional capital). Myself, Brandon, and Nick have taken to calling the gym Axel-Rod's gym. Primarily because the gym is made from old car parts. There is a bench press, where the bar is literally a driveshaft and two tires or either side. They have also filled a large container with sand, tied it to a rope and pulley system to work your arms. The dumbbells are coffee cans filled with cement and a bar running between. All of the things are amazing ingenious and pretty effective!

We even have a personal trainer named Amadou to help us out. He literally might be the most muscular Mauritanian I have ever seen. He also wears glasses and is kind of nerdy, so we have taken to calling him Steve Urkle on steroids. But in all he is a really nice guy and really likes helping us out. Although he can be a bit of a know it all....The gym itself is housed in a family's courtyard. Which means, that there are always a lot of people watching you. The wives, grandparents, children, and visitors sort of serve as a cheering section for us, clapping and wooting whenever we have a good set.

I will try and get some pictures up soon. Its going to be a little bit more difficult since my computer was recently knocked off a table and is not broken. So I am working on our bureau computers which can be a teenzy bit slow. But no worries, things will go on :-)

The Wild Animals of Ganni

Today, I figured I would provide everyone with a little information about all of the different animals that live in or near Ganni. When talking with the other volunteers around Mauritania, it seems like my village has the widest variety of wildlife around. Still not a lot compared to other African countries, but interesting all the same.

So lets begin…


Monkeys: Ganni has a many troops of small monkeys that live around the village. (a few people keep them as pets too). For my cooperative, monkeys are probably the most annoying and successful pests in their field. It’s amazing how smart these animals really are. They will literally plan attacks to steal our tomatoes and watermelons. The monkeys will send out a scout, who will watch all of our positions in the field and then, when everyone is far enough way, he will call his buddies and literally like 10-20 monkeys will come running over this ridge and raid our field. They will grab anything they can and bolt before any of us can even reach them. Some of them will even climb up trees and eat the stuff in front of you out of spite. These animals are really ridiculous.



Warthogs: There is also a large amount of African Warthogs living around the village. People do not keep these as animals as pets. They are way too dirty, and plus there is a social stigma against them because of the laws of Islam. The males can weigh up to like 300 pounds, pretty fricken big haha. They are also pests in the fields, but prefer to eat the squash. However, they are a little dumb, so they’re easier to keep out. I have gone hunting for them with my friend Aliune. We were able to shoot and kill a large male. The other volunteers and I were actually going to eat it for this past Thanksgiving. However, the meat ended up going bad before we were able to. I was rather bummed about the whole prospect. My cooperative was just happy to have one less pest around their field.


Desert Monitors: Mostly near the river, you can find a good deal of desert monitors. There are big lizards (up to 5-6 feet in length) that live in the areas around Ganni. They are a little shyer, so I don’t see them as often as the warthogs and monkeys. However, whenever I do see one, they always give me a little jolt because you don’t see them until the start running away from you. Sometimes, they wait until your pretty close to them. When I first got to Ganni, people used to tell me that they have seen crocodiles in the water, but they were actually just seeing the larger desert monitors swimming. Still a pretty impressive site all the same.


Marmots: The marmots are small little ground rodents that act as the squirrels in my village. They almost look like a cross between an American squirrel and an African meerkat. I’ll see these little guys always running around outside my house in village. They pretty much just behave like regular squirrels. However, I have not seen one climb a tree. They have these little holes they live in on the ground. They’re cute animals though.

Otters: I have only seen these animals twice since I’ve been here. I’m honestly not even sure if that’s exactly what they are. But, that’s what they look like to me, long brown mammals that swim in the river. Obviously not a lot of these animals around, and they are very very shy.


Eagles: There is also a good deal of eagles around Ganni. Two people keep injured ones as pets. They are pretty impressive looking birds of prey. The species in Ganni actually looks similar to a bald eagle. They stand about two and a half feet tall with giant talons. My friends always warn me to stay away from the ones that are kept as pets. Apparently they are rather temperamental. It took me forever to figure out that this weird noise/call I heard in Ganni was actually the eagles. Their call almost sounds like a really weird human laugh. Its really really hard to explain exactly. I’ll try and get a recording one day.

So that’s pretty much it for the wildlife in and around Ganni; with the exception of course of the flies and mosquitoes. But I hate them and they don’t deserve to be in my blog entry lol. Next time I’ll write about the domestic animals of Mauritania! Oh joy, oh rapture! I bet you will be sitting on the edge of your seat until then. So for now “si jamm” go with peace. (Your response to “si jamm” in Wolof would be “jamm ak jamm” peace with peace)