Mali 01 – From Bamako to Djenne

 

I haven't written much about Mali, which is a shame as the country and its people have given me lots of nice memories [1]. So join me in reminiscing the travel through Mali in 2007.

Let me start with a trip from Bamako to Djenné. Actually this trip is one of the reasons I've thought about writing this blogpost. Traffic soon after Bamako had been so sparce and the main road so narrow that I even back then have written it down in my travellogue. So people don't have the mobility in parts of Africa we are accoustomed to in Europe or Northern America. In Mali there are lots of very different ethnic groups using about 40 languages [2]. Though Islam is the predominant religion, there still are indegenous religions like the one of the Dogon. Less mobility might also mean a lesser degree of spreading COVID-19 or other diseases, though diseases might also spread like Ebola has done so in other African countries [3]. Mali shares a long border with Guinea, but only had 8 cases of Ebola in the 2013-2016 epidemic.

 

 

We hired a yellow taxi in Bamako. In the early morning we packed the car with our suitcases. The driver must have made the trip for the first time. There wasn't a chance to drive into the wrong direction, but he had no idea how long this journey would be. All in all 550 km.

We had to stop at checkpoints, which seemed numerous. And we also stopped at points of interest or in the afternoon in Ségou (about 130.000 inhabitants) to have a meal at the Hotel Indépendance. We didn't stop in San (about 60.000 inhabitants) as we already were well into the evenig and the driver had problems to get a permission to drive on. He had been so tired. Later we had to take a ferry across the river Bani, which took some time as the captain didn't want to make the trip, but it was only to get a higher fare, which turned out to be less than the guide book had listed (Petit Futé). Even later we reached Djenné and could get rooms at Hotel Maafir. Though being deadly tired the driver insisted to drive back to Bamako.

On the long journey through the country we've seen villages, small towns, market, animals like donkeys, zebus, goats, and so on, baobabs, fruit and drink stands, women washing clothes and kids in the river. This long day had been very diverting.

Links and References:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2013/01/mali-sand-will-cover-you.html and https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/05/dyeing-bazin-at-niger-in-mali.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali
[3] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2014/03/ebola-recent-outbreak-in-southern-guinea.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_African_Ebola_virus_epidemic

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