Bike Riding

Aaron and I each have the same bike which we are able to use from the agriculture project that SIM is involved with here in Maradi. They’re from Australia: AG 200cc dirt bikes and they are amazing!

Aaron and I getting ready to go!

So we try to go out every week riding in the “bush” behind the SIM compound. The area is called the “fadama” which is a fertile area around the riverbed that floods during rainy season. Right now it’s dry season, so the riverbed is dried out and we can go riding through the sand, and over some incredible landscape.

Passing through villages is so fun because everyone waves and smiles as we pass by. It’s like we’re celebrities…white skin, dirt bike, I guess we stick out pretty easily. I can’t fully describe how exhilarating it is to speed down dirt paths and look out over the land. I wish everyone of you could get a chance to do this. It’s like something is being triggered deep within me…the freedom, adventure, and uniqueness of this place is phenomenal.

This part of the river still has water, so people were making mud bricks for their houses.

Heavy traffic! Nothing like LA though...

A view of the riverbed from the bike...

Wide open spaces...in the riverbed
(The next week I actually ran out of gas in the sand, so we had to take one of the bikes back into town to get some fuel in a bottle. Adventurous...yes...but not an experience I'd like to repeat any time soon)