Swenson continues her trek through West Africa as she locates the Wodaabe Fula people

(Editor’s Note: Sabrina Swenson, a 1986 graduate of Postville High School, is the daughter of Erma Swenson and the late Marlin Swenson. A world traveler, Sabrina is sharing her experiences in Niger, located in West Africa. Printed below is the second of a three-part series.)

I was up early the next morning and came down for breakfast before the other travelers awoke. I walked out of my room into the open air hall, and headed for the door of the main lobby. I opened it to find a thousand grasshopper carcasses littering the floor, all dead! Apparently the life span of these insects is very short! There were four workers with large brooms cleaning up the carnage. I asked what had happened and they said they have to do it every morning! I opened the door to the restaurant and was happy that either there were no grasshoppers there, or perhaps they had just swept up that room first! I had my breakfast and then gathered my things to head out into the bush. As I walked out the door of the hotel, another traveler stated I had a dead grasshopper on my behind.

We traveled from Tahoua to the tiny village of Abalak and at that point left civilization and headed into the bush. About an hour into the drive we reached our destination. A place with no name, no buildings, no nothing. It was where some of the Wodaabe Fula people decided to have their festival. 

Read the complete part two of Sabrina's story in the March 22 publication of the Postville Herald.

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