Day 56-61
25th -30th January 2007, Mali	previous entry next entry

Day Fifty Six 25/1. Hotel de L'Independance, Segou, Mali

13°25.80'N 6°13.46'W. Miles today ?, Total Miles 6221

It's now late afternoon and we're still lounging by the poolside at the luxurious Hotel L'independence in Segou. Is this really Africa? Matt and Saf have managed to fix their bearing and starter motor and are coming over for a shepherds pie I am going to attempt to rustle up without an oven. The fresh meat here in the "supermarkets" is so much cheaper than a grim tin of corned beef. Over dinner, we made the decision to take the more adventurous back roads to our next stop, Djenne, home to the famous world's largest mud mosque. Matt and Saf don't want to risk rough roads with their bearing situation, so are going to stay on in Segou for an extra night and will meet us there via the good road.

Day Fifty Seven 26/1. Bush Camp, South of the Niger, Mali

13°57.40'N 5°27.94'W. Miles today 123, Total Miles 6344

Away from the pool and now feeling very much back in Africa, we had a wander along the banks of the Niger River, watching the comings and goings of river life in Segou. They are all preparing for the annual music festival, which happens here next week. Soon we were on road to Djenne via the villages of Dioro and Sarro. According, to our map, there is a road linking Dioro with Massino on the river. Oh no no no, there wasn't. To say we got lost would be an understatement. It started off okay, as Rob, being the super landy driver, still feels we are unstoppable and we can always follow the donkey tracks. But let's just remember that donkeys are a lot narrower than us, not least to mention, a lot shorter. And every track we tried to follow soon petered out to nothing. If only we could just find the river. A fair amount of bundu-bashing later and passing several women hard at work pounding millet, we were completely lost and surrounded by bush. One old woman seemed so honoured to have seen us. She looked at me, clasped her hands and sighed, almost as though she thought I was the promised one. When last (if ever?) she had seen two very blonde white folk trundling around the bush in a now very dirty Landrover, I have no idea! We decided to cut our losses and camp up for the night and start the search again tomorrow. A slightly chewy but never-the-less yummy beef stroganoff for din-dins and off to bed.

Day Fifty Eight 27/1. Chez Baba, D'Jenne, Mali

13°54.37'N 4°33.27'W. Miles today 94, Total Miles 6438

Where the hell is this bloody river? Back on another donkey track, which had now dwindled to a mere footpath and we were still noticeably lost. We eventually found some water resembling a river and I asked a young woman carrying a bucketful of precious water if this was the way to Messina. She looked a little horrified and gave a definite no! However, she couldn't tell me which was the way to Messina. We decided to give this footpath a go anyway, as after all, it was on the water and was heading east. After some careful over rock guiding, we reached a cliff. Aah, this was the river all right but not the river we were looking for, just a small estuary, which now surrounded us completely! Note to self…always listen to the locals. We traced our tracks back to the last village and took our chances on yet another donkey path but this one looked a little more defined. Yay….it practically turned into a highway, with donkeys and men on bicycles everywhere and it led us straight to the road we were looking for. Hurrah, off to Djenne we go. Passing the small village of Sarro, we noticed about 50 off road vehicles parked up. On closer investigation, they turned out to be a group of Spanish and French overlanders travelling the breadth of West Africa at a rapid pace. Stopping here, the locals had decided to throw a party for them and invited us to join them. Music and dancing and general happiness and we were surrounded by small children all demanding the obligatory "cadeaux's". We finally reached Djenne in the early afternoon, in the midst of the chaos of these 50 overlanders and parked up at the dusty Chez Baba. Wandering around the village and passing the mosque, I had to stop and pinch myself. After all these years of planning a trip like this and seeing so many photos of this place, I can't believe we are actually standing in front of this mosque. Most travellers say they find it to be huge letdown but we didn't find it disappointing at all. On the contrary, quite spectacular. Africa rocks!

Day Fifty Nine 28/1. Mac's Refuge, Severa, Mali

14°30.81'N 4°05.99'W. Miles today 85, Total Miles 6523

Chez Baba is a nice enough place but we felt the need to press on to Mopti, Mali's immense and most busiest of ports. Leaving Djenne meant having to take the ferry across the small river. (Actually, it was more akin to the likes of a baking tray than a ferry) Some woman selling jewellery just came and dumped her baby with us while she did some hard core selling with the surrounding folk. Poor baby looked a little dazed being faced with two very grubby travellers in an equally grubby landrover. It is pretty warm here, so warm actually that it managed to cook 3 of Jannie and Antonio's eggs. I'm not kidding, they were hoping for a fried egg for brekkie, only to be faced with already boiled eggs, purely from the heat of the car. Scary! We had been advised to stay outside of the mayhem of Mopti in the nearby village of Sevare. Due to good old tarmac, we arrived in Sevare fairly early so decided to press on to explore Mopti. Boats stop here to load and unload cargoes of salt slabs, goats, chickens and anything else going. Torturous chaos greeted us as we tried to drive through to get to the other side where there is a bar called Bar Bozo, sporting superb views over the mayhem operating in the port. A lot of pushing and shoving, we managed to edge poor Dino through the chaos, with the help of small children clearing the way for us. Finally, we parked right outside the bar. Excellent but how the hell were we gonna get out? After a nice warm coke watching the locals load and unload the pirogues and a stroll along the banks of the river, we somehow managed to reverse out. (After having to find the drivers of the three buses who had parked us in and moving several donkeys and carts.) We checked into Mac's Refuge, which is a strange place. A refuge away from the chaos of Mopti, it most certainly is but it is not really set up for camping. We, together with Matt and Saf, camped in the very small car park but were not allowed to cook our own food. They do prepare meals for you every evening but at a fair price. Breakfast is included in your camping rate and it's a pretty cool social affair, with fruit, homemade yoghurt, American pancakes and French toast. The pool is great and needless to say, we spent all afternoon there. Later, we wandered into town in search for a bite to eat at a more reasonable rate. There are plenty of places but just need a bit of looking for.

Day Sixty 29/1. Mac's Refuge, Severa, Mali

14°30.81'N 4°05.99'W. Miles today 0, Total Miles 6523

Another day lazing by the pool, broken up only by a very hot stroll into town to get some bread for lunch. Jannie and Antonio were due to meet us here today and we talked them into taking a sunset pirogue trip up the Niger River. After some pretty hard haggling, we got a pirogue to take all 6 of us for €3 each. What an awesome experience. We chose one without an engine, just a very strong man with a very long pole. It was amazing to watch the chaos of Mopti from the peacefulness of the river. We stopped on the banks and explored the everyday activities of a small village. Back in Sevare, we all had yummy meat and chips in a cheap Sengalese restaurant. I don't think our waitress could have been more than 10 years old.

Day Sixty One 30/1. Bush camp, Mali-Burkina Faso border

13°56.99'N 2°59.75'W. Miles today 116, Total Miles 6639

Another huge pancake breakfast and a last minute swim and we decided to head off to explore the Dogon country with Jannie, Antonio, Matt and Saf. We weren't too sure what to expect, as we have read that it's essential to have a guide and to at least spend one night sleeping under the stars in a village. To be honest, we were all a little disappointed, as it seemed very touristy, almost bordering on fake. Having said that, we only really scratched the cultural surface, as we drove through the first few villages on our own (having to push or tow the 2 CV occasionally through the really sandy bits) After stopping for a bite to eat under a huge tree, we were bombarded with cadeaux demanding children. That was the deciding factor. We waved goodbye to Jannie and Antonio who wee now heading back home and we drove off towards Burkina Faso with Matt and Saf. Cleared out of Mali at Koro and found a nice quite bushcamp to enjoy our last night in Mali.

Day 56-61

25th -30th January 2007, Mali