Oct 27, 2011 - 27 October - Bamako again

The 600km from Kayes to Bamako took nearly 12 hours. the first 150km or so at snail pace due to the shocking condition of the road. Broken down trucks everywhere and those that were running were so overloaded and with broken springs so they leaned dramatically over to one side and you wondered how they would remain upright. We saw trucks that had toppled over, with people frantically trying to retrieve the goods before they disappeared. We stopped at a market on the way - Kunta was looking for a sheep for the forthcoming Tabaski...

Oct 25, 2011 - 25 October - Bamako to Kayes

Over the last few days we have travelled from Bamako to western Mali and are now in the town of Kayes, the first town the French settled when they moved into Mali from Senegal. Our first stop on this section of the trip was a town called Kita, which doesn't even rate a mention in the Lonely Planet but had a few interesting things to see. The countryside on the way was hilly and dotted with mud villages - Malinke, Fulani and Soninke - with lots of large shea butter trees on the roadside. There is a good road for this part of the trip, built...

Oct 22, 2011 - 22 October - Back in Bamako

It's Saturday and we are back in Bamako. We left Segou at 8am and were here by lunchtime, installed in a very swish hotel on the banks of the Niger River. Apparently it is owned by a famous Malian footballer. We spent the afternoon lying by the pool, then this evening we had dinner in the outdoor restaurant and listened to a duo playing West African music - very pleasant. Tomorrow we leave Bamako to travel to the west of Mali near the border with Senegal, which should be interesting. The town of Kayes was one of the first occupied by the...

Oct 21, 2011 - 21 October - Segou

Today we drove from Sevare to Segou, in the central region of Mali. The Dogon villages gave way to Bobo villages, similar in style with granaries as the Bobo are farmers who grow millet, sorghum and maize and also watermelons - it must have been watermelon time as the villages were lined with sellers and piles of huge watermelons. The Bobo also keep herds of dogs - for eating! They are not averse to eating the odd human either (and keeping selected parts for fetishes for their ceremonies!), and even last year a forestry worker disappeared...

Oct 20, 2011 - 18 October - Dogon Country

Back in wi-fi land - or "wiffy" as they call it here! We left Sevare to drive to Bandiagara in Dogon Country. The Dogon are a tribe who inhabit a 250km stretch of plateau, valley and rock face in the east of Mali. They farm maize, sorghum and millet and the women spend a large portion of their day pounding the millet so they can eat it. There are lots of large baobab trees around and they use the new leaves to make a sauce and the bark is used to make rope and also to ferment the millet beer the men drink. There is also a fruit of the...

Oct 20, 2011 - 20 October - Mopti

Leaving Sanga we headed back towards Sevare and Mopti. First stop of the day was at Songu, another Dogon village but a very important one as this is where the circumcisions are carried out. Every 3 years (last one in 2010) up to 300 boys from surrounding villages are sent to Songu with their fathers to be circumcised. The boys bring millet with them for food during their stay, and they stay around 2 weeks. They are taken to a place up in the rocks behind the village where the ceremony takes place. First of all, medicine is prepared -...

Oct 20, 2011 - 19 October - Sanga

On Wednesday we drove from Bandiagara to Sangha, another Dogon village. The road was pretty rough, dirt and big boulders everywhere, but very pretty. There were lots of dams along the way constructed on the river - when the first one fills it overflows and then fills the next one down the river, which then overflows and fills the next one and so on, ensuring that each village gets water. We booked in to our hotel in Sangha and had some lunch, then a local guide, Ibrahim, took us to visit the village. With all the local kids in tow, we...

Oct 18, 2011 - 17 October - Djenne

On Monday we started early to drive to Djenne, a World Heritage listed town which sits on an island in the Bani River. The scenery on the road is fairly flat, with fields of sorghum, millet, corn and rice plus herds of cattle. The rains didn't come this year and the harvest has failed, so the fields have just been left and the cattle will be allowed to eat what remains. After crossing the river on the ferry we arrived in Djenne at lunch time. Djenne boasts an incredible mud mosque, the largest mud building in the world, which is quite a...

Oct 16, 2011 - 16 October - Segou

Today we hit the road to travel from Bamako to Segou in Kunta's 4WD. The temperature outside seems to be a constant 37 degrees - Thank god for aidconditioning! We bought watermelons from sellers on the side of the road and it was good to stop in the shade to eat them. On the way we stopped to visit a village where they were harvesting the shea butter. This comes from the seeds of the large shea butter tree which they dry then pound and finally boil to extract the oil. When it cools it becomes thick like butter and is then sold to make...

Oct 15, 2011 - 15 October - first day in Bamako

After around 32 hrs of travel (Sydney - Bangkok - Addis Ababa - Bamako) we finally arrived in Mali yesterday. Kunta was at the airport to meet us and took us to our hotel, the Sleeping Camel, run by an Australian called Matt. By coincidence, Matt used to work with our tour guide in Central Asia, Al - small world! Today was a fairly easy day. Kunta picked us up at the hotel and took us to the National Museum. Apart from the museum exhibits there was a tourism expo going on, with stands from different countries in West Africa so we were able...

Oct 17, 2010 - Mali

Le Mali est vraiment très riche culturellement, beaucoup de traditions sont encore très présentes dans la vie courante, et l’organisation de la société ici est assez différente de la nôtre … Les paysages tels que ceux du pays Dogon sont splendides, et les villes typiques de Djenne et de Tombouctou valent vraiment le détour. Les Maliens sont généralement super gentils, ouverts, et curieux de faire de nouvelles rencontres. Mais il ne faut pas se voiler la face, la pauvreté est partout et il est difficile de ne pas sentir concerné… Enfin...

Oct 14, 2010 - Bamako und Siby

Zurueck in Bamako - wo wir wieder auf "alte" Bekannte trafen, Malier, die wir bereits bei unserem ersten Aufenthalt in Bamako kennengelernt hatten. Ganz angenehm, bekannte Menschen wiederzutreffen .... Die ersten Naechte haben wir in der Katholischen Mission verbracht, die auch Zimmer mit Doppelbetten hat. Danach haben wir dann unsere Premiere bei couchsurfing gehabt - fuer alle, die es nicht kennen: man traegt sich auf einer Internetseite ein und teilt mit, ob man bei jemand schlafen will oder eine Couch/Bett zum Schlafen anbietet - das...