No 2 problems...
It is perhaps a measure of the success of Hotel Djenne Djenno that the very pretty new septic tanks (see entry Oct.15 06) are already full and brimming over.
It is difficult to assertain which event at the hotel would have the more negative impact in tourist terms: an encounter with an open septic tank or the removal of a dead body. (one of the tricky situations dealt with at Fawlty Towers.) It is certain however that the situation needs dealing with, and preferably when there are no hotel guests around.
The OMATHO, (Office Malien pour le Tourisme et l'Hotellerie) are very insistant that all good hotels should have septic tanks to keep nasty stuff from seeping into the water table and the surrounding areas. They are not so keen to explain what exactly should be done once the tanks are full.
The local kaka removal service (kaka is French for no.2) is not a big shiny truck with a big hoover attachment, spiriting the effluent away to some environmentally correct destination, but it consists of five chaps with buckets and wheelbarrows, who picks up the smelly stuff at midnight and nothing more is heard of it. I asked Dra, my friend and the manager at the Campement what actually happened to the kaka. He looked at me the way one looks at a very silly child and replied: ' I have no idea. Why do you want to know?' It is my very strong suspicion that the wheel barrows are empied just beyond the hotel gates...
My mud architect Boucoum has been informed. It is his responsability, after all. He did reassure me a little: apparently there was a malfunction. Normally the tanks should not need emptying, but contain a sort of filter system, you will be glad to hear- well at least I was.