By the Numbers: Paddling the Niger River

Looking downstream, Niger River. Photos by: Helen Lloyd

Number of days the locals in Faranah thought it would take: 1.5

Number of days we expected it to take: 10-14

Actual days spent paddling on the Niger River: 15

Rest days: 0

Photos by: Helen Lloyd

Nights spent in a tent: 14

Kilometres travelled by pirogue: 350

Kilometres which we spent out of boat, pushing or dragging it: 50*

Number of times we fell out of pirogue: 3 each

Paddles lost (and found): 4

Number of times we had to unload everything due to capsize and flooding: 2

Nails used to repair boat after crashing into rocks: 4

Number of chants of ’1, 2, 3, Heave’ when attempting to drag boat in shallow water, over sand: 49*

Hippos seen and successfully avoided: 11

Rocks mistaken for hippo’s head: 27*

Photos by: Helen Lloyd

Snakes seen swimming: 3

Snakes that crawled under my tent: 1

Chimpanzees seen in the wild: 1

Chimpanzees seen at a rehabilitation sanctuary: 9

Bats seen: 4,751*

Dead cows floating in river: 1

Days without seeing any people: 2

Military officers who mistook us for poachers: 1

Number of times I asked, ‘Lars, did you hear that? in the middle of the night’: 4

Number of times Lars replied: 2

Fish caught: 0

Fresh fish bought: 1

Kilogrammes of pasta eaten: 3.15

Kilogrammes of rice eaten: 1

Kilogrammes of potatoes eaten: 1

Beers drunk: 5

Sunglasses lost: 1

Flip-flops lost or broken: 2 (both the right foot)

Sand-fly and tsetse fly bites: 309*

Millilitres of my blood spilled in my tent by sand-flies: 25*

Beers bought with money from selling boat to local fisherman at end of trip: 8

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* Approximation

Community Connection

To learn more about Helen Lloyd and Lars Bengtsson’s adventures and charity ride through Africa, please visit their website, www.takeonafrica.com

Please submit By the Numbers submissions to david at matadornetwork.com