RIVER NIGER- Arrival in a Village

Samuel Johnson once wrote that “a man must carry knowledge with him, if he is to bring home knowledge.” As we’ll hear in a moment, that advice applies to the art of traveling. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Mark Jenkins is author of To Timbuktu, a book which chronicles his travels through remote villages in western Africa.

“With a guide, the first thing that happens is the guide takes you to the chief of this village. You’re in his country and to pass through, you’ve got to stop and tell him why you’re there. Of course your guide does this. Your guide acts as kind of your personal ambassador. You go into the chief’s hut, with the guide, and the guide talks to the chief and explains to him why you’re here, what you’re doing. And inevitably, the chief sees it as a wonderful opportunity to find out about the rest of the world. Now remember, we’re in villages where there’s no telephone, there’s no TV, there’s no radio and there’s no road. So what happens after you’ve kind of been accepted by the chief is the chief will often kind of set up a session with you, later in the evening after he’s fed you, of course, and given you a hut to stay in, he will ask you back. He will assemble his entire village, perhaps two, three hundred people and through your guide, who is also acting as translator, he’ll ask questions. He wants to know about the rest of the world. Not only does he want to learn personally, but he realizes that this as an opportunity for his village to learn about what the rest of the world is like.

“You’re given the opportunity to set the record straight. And this is kind of what real travel, I think, is all about- an exchange. You’re given food and a place to stay. In exchange, you’re expected to tell the story of your own country, of your own family, of your own culture.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

RIVER NIGER- Arrival in a Village

According to one seasoned explorer, the art of traveling is all in the exchange.
Air Date:09/14/1999
Scientist:
Transcript:

Samuel Johnson once wrote that "a man must carry knowledge with him, if he is to bring home knowledge." As we'll hear in a moment, that advice applies to the art of traveling. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Mark Jenkins is author of To Timbuktu, a book which chronicles his travels through remote villages in western Africa.

"With a guide, the first thing that happens is the guide takes you to the chief of this village. You're in his country and to pass through, you've got to stop and tell him why you're there. Of course your guide does this. Your guide acts as kind of your personal ambassador. You go into the chief's hut, with the guide, and the guide talks to the chief and explains to him why you're here, what you're doing. And inevitably, the chief sees it as a wonderful opportunity to find out about the rest of the world. Now remember, we're in villages where there's no telephone, there's no TV, there's no radio and there's no road. So what happens after you've kind of been accepted by the chief is the chief will often kind of set up a session with you, later in the evening after he's fed you, of course, and given you a hut to stay in, he will ask you back. He will assemble his entire village, perhaps two, three hundred people and through your guide, who is also acting as translator, he'll ask questions. He wants to know about the rest of the world. Not only does he want to learn personally, but he realizes that this as an opportunity for his village to learn about what the rest of the world is like.

"You're given the opportunity to set the record straight. And this is kind of what real travel, I think, is all about- an exchange. You're given food and a place to stay. In exchange, you're expected to tell the story of your own country, of your own family, of your own culture."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.