This travelogue is about a journey through Mali, which I made together with friends from November 17th until December 15th.
DUS - CDG - BMK - Bamako - Ségou - San - Djenné with Senossa - Mopti - Lac Debo - Niafounké - Timbuktu - Gourma-Rharous - Gossi - Hombori - Douenza - Banani - Bankass - Ende - Banani - Sangha - Bandiagara - Mopti - Bamako – BMK – CDG – DUS
Why publish this travelogue after all these years? I digitalized my handwritten travel diary and thought some aspects are also interesting to the public. Moreover this kind of travel nowadays would risk your live [1], so maybe this travelogue is already giving a historic account.
Day 4, Tuesday, November 20, 2007 Drive to Djenné
With a yellow taxi to Ségou. Late lunch at the Hotel Indépendance. With a disoriented and exhausted driver we continue to Djenné. There to the Hotel Maafir. Mohammed's cousin Bayobou welcomes us and becomes our guide.
Finished on time in the morning; paid off the sisters (of the acceuil). Then my friends' suitcases had to go onto the roof of the taxi, the construction surprisingly held, even though only a rope was looped around them, but it was tight and elastic enough. There were quite a lot of checks along the way, which started shortly after Bamako. After that, the traffic thinned out very quickly; surprising, because it is one of the main traffic arteries. Villages and small towns, zebus, cattle, donkeys and goats could be seen, especially donkey carts. Where we stop, macademia nuts, apples, bananas, limes and other things are offered. Begging boys who want a BIC, i.e. a pen, or just a cadeau (“Donne-moi un cadeau!”). The further you get from the river, the drier the land becomes; which of course is clear.
We were reaching Ségou. It's a very big city, sprawling, we have to go through the city. We thought of a terrace on the Hotel Indépendants with a view of the Niger; but we hat misread the petit futé. The hotel was nice, though, with a garden restaurant, where we had lunch.
Baobab trees have something magical, like human shapes or the tree creatures (Ents) in The Lord of the Rings. Then we continued through the savannah at the crossing of the Bani. Surprisingly also photos of women bathing; that wasn't planned at all, I found it out afterwatrds, while looking at the enlarged pictures. The road is getting emptier and we still have far to go. We finally arrived in San after sunset and the policeman initially didn't want to let us go any further, but then it worked. Further checks.
The driver is totally exhausted and hasn't had anything to drink in between. We bought him water and had to show him the way according to the map in the petit futé. Then onward to an adventurous journey through the night to the ferry. The captain didn't want to leave until the next morning, but it was all about money and then we paid even less than what was described in the petit futé. Crossing through the night with the moonlight - who needs light when the moon is shining? The campment in Djenné didn't suit us - bad reception and there were also huge groups there. But Bayobou (Muhammad's cousin) had already booked for us at the Maafir, as was agreed before. We just didn't know how to get there, but that worked out and we ended up getting a good night's sleep. There should be even better rooms the next morning.
We urged the driver to stay, but he wanted to return to Bamako. We would have paid him the stay, but he wanted to save money on the permit, which would be invalid if he has stayed in Djenné.
Links and Annotations:
[1] The U.S. Department of State / Bureau of Consular Affairs for instance writes: "Violent crime, such as kidnapping and armed robbery, is common in Mali." And more risks are mentioned. Moreover it advises: "Draft a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney." https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mali-travel-advisory.html
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