Harmattan

Each year, December arrives with a change in the weather. The skies fill up with a cloud-like covering, hiding the hills nearby behind it all. Dust from the Sahara desert comes and sits in our air. Usually, the covering brings a drier heat, the nights cooling down and the grasses drying up. While we enjoy a break from the humidity, harmattan brings with it a certain desolation. We burn our bushes which sends the snakes and mice running to other nearby fields. It looks barren, the usual lush surroundings the majority of the year brings.

This year, the harmattan is heavy. The dust that fills the air covers everything in our homes with layers of gray. The nights suddenly drop to the high 60's, cold for us who are used to lows in the 80's. Lips are chapped, throats constantly parched, skin is dry, and colds abound. By the end of the day, our eyes are dry and we are required to shower, not because we are coated in sweat, but because we are coated in a film of dust. 

This is my first year experiencing the full harmattan, though I've heard that it is the heaviest one in decades. What a year to stick around!

Our view of Shai Hills

The dreary view of the Harmattan

The dust-filled sky 

The harsh heat arrives in February, so while the dust requires a daily wipe-down of everything in my house, I am happy to wait it out in all the dust because I know the next season is my least favorite one...hot, hot, hot.