Missing the boat in Timbuctu and having to hire a canoe to chase it down (we were in the Tuareg tent and didn't know the boat was leaving - no horn, and no one told us).

At the softball tournament in Niamey, appalled to see the American workers wearing t-shirts that said $80,000 tax free (meaning they don't pay income tax on the first $80,000 of income - which is many times more money than anyone in Africa made, and how crass of them to flaunt their wealth that way).