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 Débo - Niafounké - Timbuktu - Gourma-Rharous - Gossi - Hombori - Douentza - 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 27, Thursday, December 13th, 2007 Bamako
In the Villa Soudan, disturbance by American women. Eating in the Paillotte.
The street in front of the hotel is quieter than expected, but only until around 6:45 a.m., when traffic starts crossing the two bridges.
Strange art hanging in my room; in particular, a light and a black footprint, a coconut shell [2] (brain shell?) with cowrie and seven figures, six grouped around one, partly white, aim at my crude symbolism. The artist's name is Mohammed Bírata [3].
In the afternoon there was a nuisance with two American women who were talking loudly, so Charles and I had to have a very loud conversation and move chairs.
Charles saw seven chairs being moved around tables and had the idea that they expected seven American women. He reserved the straw hut downstairs for us. But then it turned out that the notables came with wives. We would actually have liked to have a closer view.
Then another digéstive at the bar with the cook and her husband.
Read a lot poetry [4].
Day 28, Friday, December 14th, 2007 Take-off from Bamako
Day use at Villa Soudan. In the evening jeunesse dorée at the swimming pool. Bus taxi to the airport. Departure at midnight. Paris at 6:20. Delayed flight Paris-Dusseldorf.
Woke up in the night, turned the AC on, turned it off, turned it on again, opened the window. Morning mood captured in a photograph.
The departure was getting closer and closer and I only now noticed that I had taken my sandwich knife with me on the plane in Mopti.
And only now did I remember, when we were with the elephants, the following: “Two shots more! An elephant is a pig when it's shot." [5]
The blue belt for the suitcase is gone; now I can't secure the suitcase.
Paid my bills.
Checking in on site was easy; relieved a lot of stress. But then I was already in Sukhothai [6], where I was far too close to M. Partout and Mohammed. M. Partout has probably been a small-time dealer who located the people/customers. In Sukhothai, NGOs and two American women were of the corpulent type and probably also rich. The food was very good but also as expensive as in Europe to exclude the cheap crowd. I couldn't look for souvenirs, because I didn't want to run into the people just mentioned.
Before I got to the other bank of the Niger, I took photos of our hotel; had a chat to a Touareg knowing that he wasn't a Touareg, of course, and wanted to have his photo taken and rent his pinnace to me, which i declined both.
From the law faculty reference to a lecture -: “Deontologie et ethique du magistrate”.
Saw the inscription on a mini taxi: “Qui sai l'amour?”
Exchanged money at the airport. Geneviève had a cold, Charles suffered from severe intestinal cramps.
Jacques Chirac was not flying with us. I was able to buy some souvenirs – not for me.
Day 29, Saturday, December 15, 2007 Return
Paris at 6:20. Delayed flight Paris-Dusseldorf.
It started shortly after midnight. Lots of lights in the desert. Rising of Venus.
Watched a movie: Shortcut to happiness [7].
From 12 km above Ibiza you can see the lights of Algeciras.
Hardly slept.
The young woman next to me, Ashley, was writing cards about a successful campaign in Mali over the last week (7 days!); according to a sticker, a campaign against malaria.
The stay in Paris was longer and there was also a waiting time on the plane.
In the evening I zapped with my parents, something on TVE [8] looked like Mali -: base jumps from the hand of Fatima.
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| Charles took this photograph in the Pays Dogon |
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
[2] At that time I didn't know anything about cocoivores, after all there was a historical figure, namely August Engelhardt, who represented cocoivorism. See also the novel by Christian Kracht.
Christian Kracht: Empire. Kiepenheuer&Witsch, Cologne 2012. ISBN: 978-3462041316. Or about August Engelhardt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Engelhardt
[3] Mohammed Bírata – I didn't find him on the intenet, also not mentioned in the petit futé.
[4] Thomas Kling: Sprachspeicher. 200 Gedichte auf deutsch vom achten bis zum zwanzigsten Jahrhundert [Language Storage. 200 poems in German from the eighth to the twentieth century]. DuMont Verlag, Cologne 2001. ISBN: 9783770158133.
[5] This is from a sketch by Marty Feldman in which he wentinto a flower shop and sawno one, kept walking and ended up in the African jungle. At some point a big game hunter with a rifle stormed past him with these words.
[6] A Thai restaurant.
[7] I don't remember the movie, but it doesn't seem to have been any good either. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortcut_to_Happiness_%E2%80%93_Der_Teufel_steckt_im_Detail
[8] TVE – Televisión Española.
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