ANYWHERE - 1 - adrift in africa

I depart from Laayoune, the de jure capital of the Sahrawi Arab Republic also known as Western Sahara, taken by some local merchants that quickly put me in contact with the Tuareg caravans, and thus, as we go across the big desert, passing through a series of canyons, a couple of sandstorms, some oasis, I hear stories about the mythical creatures that used to dwell around these lands, like this one, about a certain scorpion God supposedly living inside some kind of crumbling palace surrounded by a troupe of enslaved mermaids serving him. And then, as it goes, they also tell me about Zerzura, "The Oasis of Little Birds", a city guarded by black giants who would keep anyone from going in or coming out; and, about djinns wandering through the hot sands of this desert, say, waiting for caravans where they could immerse themselves, and, about the marids, water spirits that are believed to dwell under springs; and about Ifrits, ghost sprits that are said to inhabit the hottest parts of the desert, and about ghouls, malevolent beings that may prey on humans and animals, often depicted as shape-shifting creatures that can take on the form of a hyena or a jackal, and so, this is, after some days/weeks actually following with this caravan through the desert, one night, I do not sleep, I mean, I stay awake all night, counting the stars, and so, at some point, there I go, already leaving our encampment, following on the crest of some dune, alone, and well, as I advance, I think I even come to see some kind of shadows actually twirling on the sandbanks around, and then, say, these shadows are eventually coming closer and closer, and, as they come, I also have this impression that the sky is actually approaching, this is, apparently falling over my head, and then, it even gets more real, say, the so-said twirling shadows are already here, dancing around me, tickling my bowels, tempting my spirit, and, as the sky keeps falling over, in a while, I come to have a palette of voices babbling things inside my head, things like “I’m the true-truwe, and I will guide you through the stars…”; “I’m the real-reel, and I will carry you to the real matter…”; “I’m the free-freeda, and I will take you wherever you wanna go…” and, as this happens, I mean, as I hear these voices, there I go, already being sucked by this magnetic sky, I mean, like, my body and existence being choked by the big eye of the great matrix… and then, as I wake up, after removing that curtain of sand from my vision, what I see, first, is the blue sky up there, plus some dark pinkish clouds going through it, and then, as I feel the soft sway under my feet, I look around and I eventually realize that I'm actually aboard some kind of barge, this is, presently floating along a broad river, and well, after passing my eyes through the margins out there, I finally pay attention to this two guys here aboard, say, two guys with a very tanned sort of skin, both positioned on the extreme rear of the barge, with turbans around their heads, this is, one holding the helm and the other, at this right moment, already coming to me with some kind of dancing steps, and well, as he comes, he's actually humming some words that I can't really understand, and, as I turn my face, to better inspect the currants of this river, he's already here, smiling in my face, making some signs with his hands, rolling the eyes in a strange manner, and then, even pointing to some of the banks up the river there where we can still see some huge sandy dunes, and then, as he shuts up, I kinda envision some rags of the refereed pinkish clouds actually appearing on the back of that sandy visions, and, as I look at it, I think begin to hear the voice of the other one still on the helm of this barge, a voice now saying something like this, “Piye, also known as Pānkhi, Piankhy, Paiānkhi, Piānkhi, or Paānkhi, was actually the first African king of Egypt and the founder of theTwenty-fifth dynasty... actually a Nubian, like us, a Nubian from the Napata-Meroë city, a city just in the back of that dunes we have recently passed... this is...” he says and then, his voices vanishes as he looks into the water streams on his side, and, well, as he keeps looking at it, I look too, this is, I come back to the mounds of sand on the horizon, the same mounds I was looking before, I mean, the pinkish clouds are still there. And, in a while, the other boy aboard is already here, making signs with his hands in my face, pointing to the sky, pointing into my chest, beating his own chest, and then, as I look the sky, again, the other one just continues like this, “Piye took advantage of the squabbling of Egypt's rulers by expanding Nubia's power beyond Thebes into Lower Egypt… and, in reaction to this, Tefnakht of Sais formed a coalition between the local kings of the Delta Region and enticed Piye's nominal all, king Nimlot of Hermopolis, to defect to his side… so, Tefnakht would send his coalition army south and besieged Herakleopolis where its king Peftjauawybast and the local Nubian commanders appealed Piye for help... and, actually, Piye reacted quickly to this calling, he reacted by assembling an army to invade the Middle and Lower Egypt and he also visited Thebes in time for the great Opet Festival... which proves he effectively controlled Upper Egypt by this time... more to say, that, he was actually devout follower of the god Amun, whom he invoked to legitimize his rule and to justify his "holy war" to restore traditional Egyptian practices in a rebellious Egypt... and then, after him, came Shabaka, but, the most recent archaeological evidence shows that Shabaka ruled Egypt after Shebitku and not before, as previously thought., this is... the confusion may stem from Shabaka's accession via Kushite collateral succession versus Egyptian patrilinear succession, so... the last Libyan Adoratrix was still alive during the reign of Shebitku, because, she is represented performing rites and is described as "living" in those parts of the Osiris-Héqadjet chapel built during the... and then Shabaka just transferred the capital to Memphis and… he’s also known for creating a well-preserved example of Memphite theology by inscribing an old religious papyrus into the Shabaqo, a hole in a stone, and the text may actually includes two main divisions with a short introduction and an ending summary... say, the first division relates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt and the second... is a creation myth that establishes Ptah as the creator of all things, including gods... this is, the text actually says that it is in Memphis that the unification of Egypt took place... I mean, Memphis was also the place where Taharqa was crowned, say, the new king that ruled Upper and Lower Egypt as Pharaoh from Tanis in the Delta... thus, Taharqa's reign was a prosperous time in the empire with a particularly large Nile river flood and abundant crops and wine... inscriptions indicate that he gave large amounts of gold to the temple of Amun at Kawa... Thebes was enriched on a monumental scale... and also, is atributted to him, the building of the largest pyramid near El-Kurru... plus, his army aided Judah and King Hezekiah in withstanding a siege by King Sennacherib of the Assyrians, something that is also marked on the bible... and eventually, Taharqa's successor would be Tantamani, a more dark skined one, say... this is, it is said that he have sailed north from Napata, through Elephantine, with a large army to Thebes, and then, after defeating Sais and killing Assyria's vassal, Necho I, in Memphis, he would proceed invading Lower Egypt and besieging some cities in the Delta... as for example, Khor and Judah, cities that would be forced into paying a tribute after the siege... and then, eventually, he would be succeeded by his son, king Atlanersa,  that would be the last ruler of the twenty fifth dynasty, which witnessed the Assyrian conquest and the beginning of the Late Period under Psamtik I...” he actually says while already leaving the helm, this is, after exchanging positions with his partner he comes to install himself right on my side, and this is, by now, “my name is Nabra and my mate's name is Kalu!” he says, and then, “What about you? Do you have a name!?”; he actually adds, and I “hum, I'm afraid I do not remember that name, sir!” I manage to say. “Ok, don’t call me sir, but, do you actually know where you are?” he asks, and “well,” I say, “I think we may be somewhere in Egypt, as you talked about it for so long...!”; “oh no, actually no… in fact we are in Sudan, Egypt is almost one thousand kilometers up from here… but, as I was explaining, in the old time the two countries were just one, so, you not totally wrong… although, what I was asking was not that…”; and “oh!”; I would eventually exclaim, followed by “so, what’s the question?”; “hum, I myself do not like questions but, in this case, the question is, do you actually know how you eventually came to be aboard this boat?; “what!? I do not understand!”; “OK, not so important!” he would add, and then, after an exchange of looks with his partner aboard, he actually asks; “what about Sudanese people, what you know about them?”; “the Sudanese hum, I know about Piye, the first black king 9 of Egypt... and, I know about Shabaka and Shebitku and Taharqa and Tantamani, the last pharaoh of kushit origin you have just talked about...”, “oh, very good, and what about the history after that, do you know what happened to Egypt after the invasion of the Assyrians!?”; “I know something yes, after the Assyrians Egypt was actually invaded by the Achaemenid empire, and then by the Greeks and then by the Romans, and then...”; “oh, and do you know about Amanirenas!?”; “no, I do not know about the Amanirenas!”; “ok, but, it sounds like what, to you, I mean this name!?”, “Amaniretas actually makes me remember Amanitas, the most toxic known mushrooms!”; “hum, well, well... not so far away!” he eventually says smiling, and then, “actually Amanirenas was one Kushit queen known for invading Roman occupied Egypt and successfully negotiating the end of Roman retaliation, retaining Kushite independence, she would later be remembered in the West as Queen Candace, maybe this name already says something to you, “yes, somehow!” I say, and then, as we talk about Queen Candace, after passing by a few sesame and sorghum crops, we are actually reaching some kind of pier with miniature figurines of the Egyptian gods, this is, as I look at it, between other things, I recognize the jackal head of Anubis, the cow horns of Hathor; the eye of Ra with the cobras coiled around the iris disk... and, on the back of all this, there is also some kind of eagle with a mohawk, and thus, “that is the Sagittarius serpentarius... maybe you don't know but, that's main symbol of Sudan…” my interlocutor says, and after passing this pier, further down, say, after some more patches of different kinds of green, different kings of yellows, the sesame and sorghum crops, we wound start to descry further there, some kind of white constructions in the middle of the mud, and soon, I would get informed, “that is already the beginning of Omdurman, the most populous district of Khartoum, our final destination... we are almost there...” my mate Nabra says, while his assistant, Kalu, actually begins to dance around us, probably excited that we are arriving, and so, after passing under a couple of bridges, we are actually reaching that place where the two Niles meet, this is, here the Blue Nile turns left, and the other, actually the White Nile, taking the right position, plus, some kind of green inland on its vertices, and, as we approach, I can see, an inland with vegetable farms, gorse hedgerows and narrow muddy lanes where donkeys and rickshaws can be seen being pushed by men dressed in white ragged tunics, men we are actually waving to right now, and they, well, as they visualize our approaching, there they stay, motionless, standing with their heads stuck in the air, this is, not waving back to us, just firmly looking into our direction... and, as we advance by the shore of this inland, now, on our right side, this is, on the opposite side of the island itself, we can actually see this round building with several nozzles on the roof, “that is the Al-Nilin Mosque, it was built in the 70's with money coming from Dubai, they say...”, and, after passing under some low steel truss bridge they call Al Fatihab, here we are, on the bay of the White Nile itself, the branch of the Nile that goes further away, into central Africa... I get to know... and so, then, as we approach the left bank of this bay, where is the Al Sunut Forest... I get to know, some kind of semi-urban forest with several lakes/puddles in the middle of it, a forest actually populated by the Acacia nilotica, a soft kind of tree, plus, wandering through it, we can also see some guys driving old-style motorcycles along its mounds... and others, gathering in small groups, making some kind of barbecues, pick-nicks, etc, and also, some ladies actually carrying bundles/basins on their heads, this is, apparently selling snacks and other trinkets to the dwellers, and as we go by, this ladies carrying merchandise on their heads are actually waving at us, and we yes, we wave back at them, this is, my mates even shout a few words/expressions in their direction, and they, the ladies, they even reply with some kind of singing, etc. Further, as we go through the shores of this kind of forest, we also hear the chirping from birds, birds we can't actually see, and then, what we actually come to see, is some groups of huge white pelicans grouped together here and there in the muddy shores of this kind of forest, and then, as we pass the poor residential neighborhood that they call Al Lamap, soon we are actually reaching some kind of inlet where is the Al Shajra port, I mean, several small and larger barges are actually moored here, 10 some apparently in good state, the smaller ones, and others, say, the bigger ones, some semi-destructed, some totally in ruin, apparently here passing the rest of their days… and so, this is, as we disembark, in fact, there we go, already jumping from barge to barge, I mean, some of those barges are actually serving as small supermarkets, where some smiley ladies with flimsy shawls around their heads, and man with rotten teeth are actually selling some kind of sandwiches, fizzy drinks, buckets of cotton, gum Arabic, sorghum and sesame sacks, perfumes, incense, oils... and so, eventually, I would ask about the smells of this oils, and, instantly, I get to know that Humrah is one of the most common fragrances around here, being this “a preparation of mahlab seeds, cloves, sandalwood, musk, and orange peels”, someone tells me. And there, on land, I also see some clothes stalls, stalls selling mainly things like, scarves, beaded necklaces, leather shoes, crocodile bags, ivory pieces, etc… and, in a while, as we climb up onto the last deck of one of this old boats with colorful flags on the top, holus-bolus, they present me to their friends here seated around some kind of wooden tables, mainly dressed in tunics and thongs, some with turbans on their heads, some with American caps, and, in the meanwhile, after some laughter, after a couple of teas, a Ful Medame is already arriving to our table, being this Ful Medame plate, actually a fava-bean stew served in a large metal jug, and, as it comes, we begin eating with our own hands, and they, well, the ones around, they begin to talk in Sudanese Arabic, Cushitic, Bedawiye, languages I can't actually understand, and then, said and done, as we go for the teas, I even get in touch with a certain guy from South Africa that is also seated here on another table by our side, this is, as it goes, at this point, he's already telling me about his travels in Africa, even disclosing that back then his family have sent him to study in Europe, “but, I didn’t like it, so, some months after I would come back to my country and then… well, then I would go and start to travel all around Africa, this is, first I wandered through the west coast, then through the middle lands, and then, yes, yebo, I'm currently doing the east coast... this is, I started in South Africa, and from there I came up... thus, in my coming I did actually pass through Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and then, at some point, I would start to come up through the Nile, boarding boat after boat, and thus, that's my story, that's how I arrived here” he says, and well, as I listen to him saying those things, yes, there I go, already asking about his favorite countries in Africa, to what he reply “oh, my favorites my fav... probably Madagascar and Ethiopia..”: “why?” I ask, and “why, why...” he trolls, this before continuing “well, well, for example, Madagascar has many rare species of fauna and flora, species I haven’t seen anywhere else” he says, “I mean, strange birds with wonderful chanting etc, and Ethiopia, well… Ethiopia I may say, it has the most versatile people in Africa… it looks that... its people are African, Arabian, Indian and European at the same time, and , you know, Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that actually refused to be colonized by europeans and… then, well, yebo, then there's all that reggae kings an' queens from Jamaica that see Ethiopia as a promised land and, as a matter of fact, the Emperor Haile Selassie granted land to Rastafarians of all kinds in his country, have you heard about that?”, “No!” I say. “No! Hum!” he exclaims, “but, what about know? Why are you in Africa? I mean, from where are you coming? And, what’s the purpose of your visit? I mean, where do you want to go after all?”, he asks, and so, now, I delay my answer a bit, until that, “I don’t know…” I say, “...from the Sahara I came but... I’m not sure how I got here, I mean, I really don’t know!”; “hum, so, you don’t know from where you actually came and to where you want to go!?” he insists, and I “Well, I think I wanna go south” I manage to say, I want to continue down this river that brought me here, I mean, I feel that perhaps I must go to until its source...”; “its source it's actually a big lake, one of the bigger lakes in the would, a lake appointed as one of the sources for all humanity… they say!”; “hum, who says that!?”; “they say!” he repeats, and then, as I we leave the tables and go to lean over the railings of this kind of barge/restaurant, gazing at the large estuary that flowing past us, and, in the meanwhile, as we exchange some secrets, a small group of pelicans take flight really in front of us making that noise, and so, in the meanwhile, coming back to the men that brought me here, I even give them some gemstones I actually brought from the desert, and then, there we go, this is, me and Mandla, now wandering through the shores of the Al Sunut forest, and, as we go across the river bank, walking along a hard mud path, after a while, we get to some kind of cove with a lot of fishing gear scattered around, some wreckage, some more fishing boats, some flucas, and here, as we move around, Mandla actually introduces me to Abdô, the captain of this “new” boat, and then, Abdô also introduces me to his assistants, this is, a couple of smiling boys dressed in 11 basketball jerseys and  baggy shorts, presently doing some kind of repair on the boat's hull, and thus, in a while, as we jump aboard, the boys are already coming with some bottles of “wine” in their hands, and, as we drink, they actually share some kind of jokes about crocodiles, about big money, about America, and then, Mandla, facing Abdô now, is already saying “you must trust this guy, coz, he’s a very nice one... I mean, he will take you wherever want to go… if you give him the means…” he says, and then, Abdô, quickly comes by and explain that, “If you wanna go south, just can take you until the Jebel Aulia Dam, then, you must go around the dam and... on the other side...” he says and I just nod my head, this is, in a while we are all nodding and smiling at each other, this while drinking that vinegary wine, and so, after this nodding ceremony, the boys, I mean his assistants, are already running to the bow, laughing, jumping around, and, in a while, blaring Arab music is actually coming from inside the boat shed, and as I ask something about this music, one of the boys says “this is not Arab, this is Sudanic!” and then, as we depart, they even begin exercising some kind of dance paces like, jumping without taking their feet off the floor, and then, rotating in a crouched position while wielding a stick with their right hand, and then, “this is the “Hadandawa dance…” the captain says; “it’s the dance from our people, the Beja people, do you know about them?”; “hum, no” I say, “The Beja are people native from South Egypt, Eastern Sudan and North Eritrea… and our language is Tigre, not Arabi…ok!” And thus, actually in a mix of English, french and arab language, Abdô starts to explain me that he was some kind of sailor-man on the red sea, “this is, beyond Egypt, I have been to the Djibouti, to Somalia, Yemen, to the Oman... where actually I have met some members from the Gadaffi family...” he says, and then, one of the boys come by, with one hand hitting the dancing stick on the sole, and with the other hand, actually dribbling some kind of imaginary basketball ball, and then, turning his back to us and making as pointing at what is actually written on its back, and so, this is, the captain explains, “Well, what he's trying to show you is this name Manute Bol, do you know about it?”, “no!” I say “well, they that mr Bol was the tallest NBA player in history, eh bien, ça principale période d'activité a eu lieu dans les années 80… this is, in the 80's mr Bol actually left Sudan and went to play in America... he played for the Washington Bullets, for The Golden State Warriors, for the Philadelphia’s 76ers, for the Miami Heat's, for the Florida Beach Dogs, also known as the Rapid City Thrillers, and, after some years, he would even leave America and go to play in Italy in a small team named Fulgor Libertas Forlì, and then in Qatar, where he would finish his career… have you been to Qatar” he asks, “no”; “well, they are famous here because of their camel racing’s...” he just says, and then, the same boy that previously was hitting the sole with that stick and pretending to dribble an imaginary basketball, is now bent over, undulating his body, as if swaying over the humps of a camel, and so, in the meanwhile, the other boy just approaches and pushes his imaginary camel into the water, and so, in the meanwhile, there they go, both swimming across the turbid currants of the Nile, laughing as they swim, making strange vocal sounds on the water, and, as it goes, a couple of hours later, after passing the Al-Hilla island, we are already reaching the Jebel Aulia Dam, and thus, here, I say bye bye to the captain and the boys, and one of them even present me with his Manute Bol t-shirt, the other wanna give some crocodile teeth he himself found on the river's margins, and the captain, also would give me some instructions about how I should do once on the other side, and so, in a while, there I go, around that fucking dam, this is, a not so high one, and, well, many fisherman boats after, somehow, I would actually reach the Lake Albert in Uganda, a lake just on the side of the Murchison Falls, also nominated “the Devil's Cauldron”, a place frequented by many wizardry people, supposedly, the descendants of an ancient tribe, the Banyansi, that, say, used to inhabit on the surroundings of this waterfalls, this is, legend says... they used to disappear during the night, mixing with the local gods, whose, supposedly, dwell on the caves behind these waterfalls... and so, say... how I have actually crossed all this area I’m not sure, this is... an area with many kind of wild animals and other dangers, the sure thing is that I was under the influence of local drugs… things like (later I got to know), Albizia Coriaria; Dagga; Jirikiti, Mandrax, Nyaope, Umkhanyakude, etc... and so, well, at some point, somehow... I would finally reach the so expected final point, I mean, the so-called Lake Victoria, or, in the local dialect, the Nalubaale lake, that is, one of the bigger lakes in the world, they say, and, as said before, a site appointed as a possible source for all humanity, some say some doubt... and thus, by now, here I go, already sailing across the mentioned lake, afloat, and, as I go through, gosh, I can feel, you may can feel too, this big enormous ugly stench hovering all around, and well, as it comes, I think to myself, gosh, the appointed source for all humanity nothing more is than.. a huge, unbearable, steaming shit-hole, by golly gee!!