Hunting in Africa...

Well, last week I got to go on my 2nd hunting trip while here in Africa. Steve, Mitch, and I left Thursday morning and did not come home until Monday afternoon. We went down into southern Mali about 6 hours away from Bamako. At one point during our hunt we left Mali and entered into Ivory Coast (which is a neighboring country). Hunting here is way different than hunting in the states. Everyone hunts together in a line kind of like a drive. It was a very traditional African hunt. The African tradition is for the visitors (us) to supply shotgun shells to the hunters. In turn when the hunt is over whoever supplied the shells keeps all the meat. I was very surprised at this, especially since the Africans killed all the Warthogs, rabbits, ground squirrels and whatever else. They did take the head, intestines and the skin (yes, they eat all of this!). They were so happy we gave that to them because they weren't supposed to get any. All we ended up keeping was this hog. They said his teeth were pretty small can't wait to see some big cutters.

Here's a picture of one of the warthogs that was killed.

 

 

 

We also had some fine African hounds on the hunt to. They are little, skinny and very ugly but very, very ferocious.                                                                                                                                        

I also got to try out some local cuisine while we were away. One night while eating dinner, I asked our host what kind of meat it was that we were eating, he replied "misi sogo", which is literally "cow meat". I thought, "okay?!?" But it was good so I kept on eating it. Well a few bites later I bit into a shotgun pellet and knew I was not eating beef!! So, I asked again, "What is this I'm eating?" Our host turned on his flashlight and looked into the bowl. He then replied "toto". Steve busted out laughing. I knew that that was not a good sign!! He then told me, "That's bush rat!!" Well, I must say, even if it was bush rat, it was still good!! So, I kept on eating!!

One of the highlights of the trip was our host's pet baboon, Caesar. Here are a few pics of him.

 

Here is Caesar sitting in a chair. Mitch and I really enjoyed trying to teach him new tricks.

 

 

You can't really see it. But in Caesar's hand (the one you can see) is some gum. It looks like a yellow string. We gave him the gum and he would play with it and chew it for hours!!

 

We really enjoyed the hunt very much. I got to spend some time with some believers and non believers and really build some good relationships. Since I am starting to get used to the culture, making friends is become more natural and easier. It especially helps, that the Africans are so friendly.

Please pray for the hunters that we were with. That they will continue to grow in their faith and share the good news. There are few believers and they live in remote villages. Currently they are unengaged and the fields are ready for workers to come and work. Also, pray that churches from the states will come to adopt villages to spread God's true word!!! Until next time...