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Sept. 25
Agadez
6:30am
In a few
short hours President Tandja will light
the Flamme de la Paix - the "flame of peace"
- Niger's symbolic return to peace after
a six year armed Touareg rebellion. As part
of the festivities we will erect the life-sized
skeleton of Suchomimus. It will be
first time many attendees will have ever
seen a dinosaur in their lives
We travel in caravan
through Agadez from our walled adobe compound
to the site of the Flamme; three Land Rovers
decorated with logos from dinosaur expeditions
and a 50-foot-long flat bed truck stacked
with four enormous wooden crates that we
shipped as cargo from Chicago. In the crates
rests the skeleton of Suchomimus.
Flyers with the light-blue
oval symbol of the Flamme de la Paix are
everywhere. In anticipation of the arrival
of President Tandja, people are beginning
to gather. On one corner a band is setting
up with an outdated amplifier and a bright
white new electric guitar. A painted cloth
reads "Flamme de la Paix Restaurant."
The Flamme de
la Paix logo
On this national holiday
all eyes will be on Agadez. Hotels are full
and the Agadez airport received more planes
in a day than it usually does in a month.
Presidents and prime ministers from Burkina
Faso, Mali, Chad, and representatives from
Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, as well as a representative from
the office of U. N. Secretary General Kofi
Anan, have arrived for the event
7:10am
The site is a few dusty
kilometers out of town. We start to unpack
the dinosaur immediately. It is already
past seven and the formal ceremonies begin
at 10:00. We have less than three hours
to erect Suchomimus.
Other people are also
working to get the site ready. Weapons are
already piled into a 25-foot wide hexagonal
concrete moat, awaiting a torch from the
President. Security guards in red berets
flank the discarded arms.
A pile of weapons
will be burned to symbolically mark
the end of the rebellion.
Every few minutes another
truck, car or bus arrives filled with people
dressed in their finest. The Targui (Touareg
women) wear black or white loose tops over
matching wrap-around skirts appliquéd
with red embroidery and gold or silver sequins;
midnight blue head wraps stain their foreheads
purple; Hausa women are adorned in brightly
colored batiked fabric with matching head
wraps tied high and stiff on their heads.
Crowds are beginning
to gather along the roped-off parade grounds.
9:00am
Putting Suchomimus
Together
All the crates are open
- not an easy task since we have no power
tools; everything has to be done by hand.
We maneuver the Land Rovers around the flat
bed truck to serve as makeshift ladders
so that people can reach the tops of the
tallest crates.
The team strains
to lift a packing cushion out
of one of the Suchomimus crates.
The hips and
legs are heavy we need a crane to help us
lift
them out of the container.
As we remove the grey
foam surrounding the casts of the bones,
it becomes clear we will need the crane
to help lift out the heavy pelvis section.
The skeleton is 27 feet
long and 12 feet high at the hip. The replicas
of the bones are strung on an iron armature
(frame) that fits together in seven main
pieces. The legs and pelvis are the heaviest.
Two poles running through the legs are screwed
onto a large metal base with wheels. Once
the legs are up (with assistance from the
crane) the work goes quickly.
Jack is about
to bring the right arm and shoulder blade
over to the skeleton.
Paul attaches
the skull and completes the skeleton
as hundreds of people look on.
In teams we carry over
the back half of the spine and then, standing
on a Land Rover, fit in the long stiff tail
section. Next we carry the front half of
the backbone and neck, fit in the ribs and
attach the arms. Last, the head, a four-foot
long, four-inch wide, fishing machine with
a cage of sharp, curved teeth at the front.
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