The Sidibes Go to the Zoo

I am a fan of zoos. I know this is not a politically correct thing to say - but I do - I love zoos. When I was really little I wanted to be a zookeeper. Reflecting back on my life choices I don't think I would mind bottle feeding baby polar bears instead of compiling data in excel...

I have happy memories from visiting zoos as a kid. When Drissa and I used to live in NOVA, we used to go to the National Zoo quite a bit. It was awesome because it was free - and it drew a very diverse crowd of families from all across the DC metro area. Walking around, looking at the animals, it always put me in a good mood. When I student taught in a Chicago public school, we took the kids on a field trip to the zoo. When I asked my group of 1st graders, which animal they liked best - they all voted for the horses and chickens (over white tigers, elephants, and other exotic offerings). While this was astonishing - I gradually have come to understand that all kids form their own bond with different zoo animals and have less than rational methods for picking out their favorites.

My favorite zoo anecdote from Africa was when I was on a work trip in Congo Brazzaville. After a long day of visiting schools and girls from the US govt sponsored scholarship program - my colleague, Dr. Ndole, had said that we were going to go to the zoo. While it seemed a bit ironic that we we would visit a zoo in Congo - I was super excited. When we showed up however, there were no animals in sight - just a make shift bar and outdoor seating. "Where are all the animals?" I asked. "They were eaten during the war, " replied Dr. Ndole. The zoo - now referred to the bar that sat on its grounds.

The story of the Bamako zoo, while less than cheerful, is not quite as tragic. I am told the zoo is a mere remnant of what existed in the 1960s. Makes you wonder how post independence governments prioritized their social spending though.... However, it is still home to a chimp, an elephant, a lion, hyennas, monkeys, a panther, ostriches, pelicans, a petrified manatee and a snake house. I decided that a struggling, poorly maintained zoo is better than no zoo at all and invited all my nieces and nephews to come with me to the zoo. Selfishly, I had planned to take a family portrait posing around the petrified manatee - however that never quite panned out.

My nieces and nephews don't go on many field trips and don't often leave the house, so when I came to pick them up they were all buzzing around the house trying to put on their best outfits. I enlisted Drissa's brother/cousin Abou to help me chaperon the 7 boys and one girl ages 3-8 (Dramane, Boi, Ba Couraba, Ba Seydou, Pablo, Mohammed, le Vieux, and Saouda.)

We poured out of the mercedes and paid our ten cent a piece entrance fee. The first thing I spotted was a baby elephant in front of a pile of burning trash. I stifled a laugh; this was a hyperbole of a run down zoo. But then i thought for a second and realized that I have been living next to burning trash for the last 5 months, so well, this baby elephant can muster up the strength to survive as well. We marched up and down stairs from the Chimpanzee who catches fanta bottles and drinks out of them to the lion cage to the snake house. The children, reminiscent of my Chicago zoo experience, seemed most excited about the fish aquariums in the snake house. Abou and I had to lift each of them up to see almost every exhibit. My niece Saouda liked being able to recognize familiar animals - "jege" she would say after looking at the fish. She looked at the ostrich and looked at me and asked "she?" (which means chicken); I was like nooo its not really a she (she te), but it does look like a "she billi billi ba" (very very fat and large chicken) - to which she kept repeating "she billi billi ba."

All the animals are kept in cages with bars on them. Kids can run up and theoretically pet any of the jackals or monkeys they want to - so Abou and I had to keep a close eye on them as my crew attempted to scale walls and bars to get better views of the animals on the side of the cages/fences. We steered the kids past the donkey heads that were kept in piles outside of the hyena cages and attempted to find the fabled petrified manatee, but were unsuccessful. After an hour and a half of zoo fun, we headed back to Niamakoro. I think the kids were just as excited about the car ride as the animals, but I - as always - enjoyed the zoo.