On and off the Road through the Bush in Mali

15 years ago it still was feasible to visit Mali [1]. We even took a Pinasse from Mopti to Timbuktu [2] and then went by car from Timbuktu into the bush. We were camping near the elephants' tracks, but we were finding out only the next morning.

We stayed in a „Hôtel de Charme“, called „La Maison“ [3], which could arranged for individual travellers. So it wasn't too difficult to arrange for a car  … and a driver. You have to pass through „unchartered“ areas, where there are no tracks and no road signs and using GPS wasn't common back then, especially if you didn't have satellite connection with your cell phone. Of course we used maps, but they were useless without other equipment, and also they were too small in scale, though 1:300,000 already is in the large scale category. We relied on Yaya, who was our guide, driver, mechanic, cook, and a very amiable guy.

There were already no-go areas in 2007. People in Timbuktu advised us not to go anywhere north or west of the town as we had thought the desert would be safe for about 50 km onwards. And also at this time people had been kidnapped east of Gao [4]. We were travelling west of Gao, so this could have been assumed as safe. 

 

We took a ferry a Korioumé and went though a narrow strip of agricultural land as the Niger was near and then into the drier pastures. Even on this part of the trip, where there were tracks, we encountered lots of bushes with thorns, which perforated the tyres. We carried two spare tyres. Yaya may not have known maps, but he knew, where to get repairs as the tyres had to be vulcanized a couple of times. One of these stops had been in Gourma-Rharous, from where we went southward to Gossi, Hombori and Douenza, all the time going back into the bush, camping there and then go to a settlement to stay in a small hotel.

 

We had seen some wildlife like elephants or crocodiles as this area once had been much wetter as the Sahel used to have large pastures, dry forest, and also seasonal wetlands, though about 6000 years ago the desertification started. We saw some herdsmen with cattle or goats, Touaregs coming to the market, people collecting water at wells or small lakes, the hand of fatima, sand dunes and much more. So enduring the heat without aircon, having to change tyres, being far from civilization didn't bother us too much. In fact, we had a wonderful trip, of which I might tell you more at another time.

Links and Annotations:
[1] „Do not travel to Mali due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. Exercise increased caution in Mali due to COVID-19.“ Advice of the US government concerning travels to Mali at the start of  2022. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mali-travel-advisory.html  
[2] I was just looking for the link to the blog post „Camping on the Riverbanks of Niger River“, but I hadn't finished it, so you still have to wait for this adventure.
[3] „Awa (française) vous accueille dans son hôtel de charme récent en plein centre-ville. Une maison d’architecture typiquement tombouctienne avec les chambres disséminées autour d’un patio intérieur, une terrasse sur le toit (avec un salon marocain) où se trouve le restaurant pour le dîner.“  http://www.autremali.com/hotel.php?page=tombouctou I guess they're out of business by now, but let's hope for the future that Awa might start her business again.
[4] https://www.france24.com/en/20090123-tuaregs-kidnap-western-tourists-says-mali-official-

.