A tree-fying encounter with bats

Once, I'd encountered a fruit bat in Mauritius that had hit an electric wire and fallen down. I'd taken it home, fed it fruits and let it go once it had recuperated a little bit. I thought it was cute (the body at least, the leathery wings and hooks were a bit freaky in looks and texture) but one pandemic later, I am terrified at the thought that I interacted with this adorable plague carrier. Anyway, I ended up having another encounter with bats which I'm not entirely happy about.

After the boat ride in the Delta, it was time to drive back to Dakar. But Senegal being Senegal, the road back was just as brilliant. We drove into a magical, beautiful sunset through a grove of coconut and baobab trees.

We decided we really wanted to take a photo with a baobab tree.

Baobabs are known as "upside down trees" because they look like their roots are sticking out when they don't have leaves and one legend goes that the devil stuck the tree into the ground upside down after being annoyed at getting tangled in its branches.

But for the most part, these trees, which are native to some parts of Africa and Madagascar, draw much reverence from Africas because of the role they play in the ecosystem, and are therefore called the "Tree of Life".

Baobabs predate humans, dating back 200 million years (before continents split)

We stopped by one tree, but it didn't seem impressive enough. Then we hit the One - a HUGE baobab - the Sacred Baobab of Nianing, meant to be the biggest baobab in Senegal. Of course, the locals had built a whole mythology around it.

Unfortunately for me, there was an opening in the tree and they insisted we go through and it wasn't easy to do so. Lanky Fraser of course managed to get through gracefully but my fat behind and lack of flexibility meant that I entered very unceremoniously and also wondered if I'd remain stuck in the hollow of the tree because I couldn't get out.

And I thought bats pooped on me, and I thought this is it, I am Case Zero for another pandemic.

And the smell.

Sorry ancestors, you know I believe in you but I was not enjoying this.

Fraser, as always, found a way to be cheerful and make up for it by driving us to a roadside restaurant (Chez George? Or something like that) which didn't look like much on the outside but served unexpectedly good food and the earthiest mushroom gnocchi I've ever had in my life.

Baobab. Bawbag. That kind of long drive can make one a bit silly.