Travel in Mali, July 2009
Chika and I had thought to travel to Mali for a while. This year, I had to take a lot of vacation in the summer, so we took that opportunity, although the season was not ideal (the summer is hot, July is the beginning of the rainy season). Akiko and Yukiko stayed in Bretagne with their French grandparents.
After a night and a day in Paris, we flew to Bamako on "Point Afrique", an airline specialized on Africa, which is incorporated as a non-profit cooperative (earnings go to development projects in Africa).
We arrived at Bamako airport early in the morning of July 15th. From there we took a taxi to the Sogoniko bus station, to take a bus to Segou (a city supposed to be more relaxed, with less hassle on tourists).
The four hours in the bus were somehow magical. We saw the very green African landscape in that area, the small villages, people at their activities. Several stops, where people came to sell food and drinks through the bus windows. Beautiful people, very well dressed, holding many things on their heads, that was very impressive.
In the bus, all the way we heard loud, lively African music, we loved that. First impression: a very friendly country!
Segou
We missed the bus stop closest to the center. Although I was checking our position on the GPS, the stop was too short and the bus too fast.
Next stop is ~5 km away. So we walked back, in the heat, eyes wide open to look at every detail of local life. People are busy with many activities, mainly in many little shops.
The "hotel Djoliba" was very nice, we could rest there before starting exploring the city.
It is close to the Niger river, which is like the backbone of the whole country (all the cities we visited are close to the Niger).
We met Michel, a local "official guide", who sold us a short trip on the Niger river on a small boat. Unfortunately, he didn't come with us, and when we visited two villages on the other side of the Niger where we really felt like strangers, with no way to get introduced to villagers. However the children were friendly, and at a small boat building site, we had an interesting conversation with a father talking about the wedding of his daughter.
As we wanted to discover the African cuisine, we ordered specialties in restaurants. By chance we discovered a small restaurant in a hut, where the peanut sauce with rice was excellent. The restaurant, run by a former chef of hotel Djoliba, a very friendly and funny Malian, is very new and still unnamed (it could possibly be named "Les Deux Cocotiers", the coconut palms). Then on evening, we went to a more expensive restaurant where the food was not as good.
The Niger River in Segou.
Mopti
The road from Segou to Mopti was long and hot (the windows of that bus did not open). At noon we stopped at San, a city of Central Mali, so that we can buy lunch in a cafeteria in the backyard of a building. I had rice with black sauce, for an incredibly cheap price, but it was also quite difficult to finish !
In the afternoon, as we approached Mopti in semi-desertic landscapes, the temperature kept on rising , I measured 37°C.
A little boy get very interested in my GPS and spent the end of the tavel with me, counting down the kilometers to Mopti. His mother had a much smaller child, which seemed to be OK in that extreme heat.
Initialy we planned to spend two days in Mopti. But Chika fell sick, so that we stayed two more days, plus one fifth day for recovery. Although Chika spent part of that time in bed, we spent enough time in Mopti to get a feel of the life there. The city is on the Bani river (joining the Niger river in the north of Mopti), where people spend a lot of time washing their clothes, their dishes, their cars, many other things... and themselves.
The Bani river in Mopti.
Salt from Taoudeni (northern Mali, in the Sahara), came to Mopti through Tombouctou.
Peul ladies carrying milk.
(click to enlarge this one !)
The Komoguel Mosque.
Mopti to Tombouctou
Visiting Tombouctou (Timbuktu) was one the top goal of our travel in Mali. But the famous city is still difficult to access nowdays: there is no road, only a sandy track from Douentza, about 200km long (traveling on the Niger river is another possibility, but there is not enough water in July for the large boats).
The last evening at Mopti, we were lucky to meet a French guy and a Malian who planned to drive to Tombouctou the next day. We negociated a good price for the trip on the rear seat of their Mitsubishi 4WD, hopefully much more confortable than the "public" 4WD vehicles.
Start of the track to Tombouctou at Douentza.
Our driver (the French guy) was useless: driving two fast, he stuck the car in the sandy ruts several times. And he had no tool nor any equipment to dig the car out. The third time we could not do anything but waiting several hours for a truck to come and save us.
We were saved by this good old Benz truck
Finally crossing the Niger river, Tombouctou is only 10 km away.
Tombouctou
We spent four nights / three days in Tombouctou. It was hot during the day, and once there was a terrible storm in the evening.
We walked around in the morning and at dusk (the best times), in the sandy streets and to the edge of the desert, which is surounding the city.
Tombouctou is a quiet city these days. As we could have expected, people were waiting for the tourists (there was only a few), a little bit insistent but all nice.
Houses of the famous explorers Gordon Laing and René Caillié, Tombouctou.
We were also very pleased to visit the house of Heinrich Barth.
Desert soccer players, Tombouctou.
See the page with more pictures of Tombouctou.
Bamako
The road to Tombouctou was so long and tough, that we decided to return back to Bamako by air.
We stayed in a simple hotel very well in the center, we could walk from there to the central market and other interesting places. Our main activity was actually shopping, and trying a few last African dishes before returning to France.
Bamako viewed from the 15th floor of the Hotel de l'Amitié (we were kindly authorized to take pictures from there).
Bamako is green ! (compared to Tombouctou...)
See more pictures of Tombouctou
and pictures of trucks in Mali.
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