Dr. Seuss and the Fizzy Mango: A bedtime story from Africa

Dr. Seuss and the Fizzy Mango: A bedtime story from Africa

by Heather Klassen, Laura Coles, and Trudi Attema

Travel to the beach and see

How fun my Africa can be!

Would you do what we have done?

Try it, try it, you’ll have fun!

Did you say no boats today?

No public boats today, you say?

Are you sure you tell us true?

“Trust me, I no lie to you!”

800,000 we won’t pay,

These Fotay will just walk away!

Bargain, bargain, bargain more,

Check the price with three or four!

Would you, could you stay afloat

Maybe you should bail your boat?

Would you, could you keep bread dry

When the waves are splashing high?

Would you stop along the way,

With some local children play?

Would you, could you go exploring,

following the ocean’s roaring?

Would you down a cliff backpack-it,

Padded by an orange lifejacket?

Camp out on a hidden beach,

Hotel comforts out of reach.

Would you, could you in the dirt?

Would you, could you in a skirt?

Would you, could you sleep in trees?

Swaying in the ocean breeze?

Would you hammock in a tree?

Disney princess you could be.

Would you climb in upside down

Eighteen inches off the ground?

Eighteen inches do you say?

No, we’ll hang them high today!

Chase a crab in rising tide,

From your headlamp he will hide.

Gaze at stars up in the sky, 

Rock to baboon lullaby!

Fizzy mango would you eat?

Or some donuts from the street?

Do not eat your street food bland!

Please add spices (and some sand)

Would you, could you in the sun

Coffee on the beach is fun!

Would you, could you in a boat? 

Would you, could you with a goat?

Would you, could you wade through muck,

garbage, fish and not get stuck?

You would not, could not, so you say.

Try it, try it and you may!

Travel to the beach and see,

How fun my Africa can be!

*Theme inspired by being in a boat with a goat... all of it is based on fact.

Hanging out, waiting for a friend who knew a beach... but he got a flat tire and never came!

So some kids joined us.

And we had some fun with them.

They wanted to have pictures, and giggled away when they saw them on the camera screens.

And they needed to try on our sunglasses!

After a bit we continued down the path...

The public boats over included rental of lifejackets... we discovered they make great padding against backpack straps!

We had a long trail, and didn't know where we would stop, just knew we wanted a beach!

Off of this trail, we found a smaller trail, about the width of a deer trail!

So we followed it...

And after numberous forks and random selections that led us down steep drop-offs

We found a beach!

An empty beach!

All to ourselves

We hung hammocks high in the palm trees.

And taught our friends to climb in upside down.

Which requires some practice!

Mosquito nets were hung

We climbed in and got comfortable

We set up the hammocks in a circle, sharing all the same trees

Which made the neighbor's hammock shake each time we moved!

The sand was hot enough to heat our instant coffee!

And our return boat ride had the bonus of a couple goats as passengers!

Goats got to be carried into the boat!

So we settled in the front for a short (half-hour) trip back to Conakry.

Arriving at low tide, which means wading in from the boat

In questionable water, and then balancing on the pier that was beginning to crumble and in some sections no more than 8-12 inches wide and 5 feet out of the water.  We made it home safe and couldn't have asked for a better overnight trip!