Monday 10 January
Shake out majority of the Sahara I have brought back with my gear. Chat to a group of 4 young aussie guys from Kew, who have ridden road bikes down overland through MAutitania & Senegal. They are discussing the pros & cons of getting to Timbuctou, as one of their group really wants to get there, one doesn't mind either way & the other two are happy to give it a miss. It is  long way but for me the Festival made it so worthwhile.
Apply for a Senegal visa  then head up to the museum to find it's shut on Mondays! Start walking back down into town & pass by the Guinea residence who direct me to their consulate (think of a 2 roomed weatherboard building on a large block) a few streets away. They assure me their visa will only take a couple of hours, so I plan to return tomorrow as soon as I pick up my passport

Tuesday 11 January
Visit Museum, average, with only french signage but great restaurant for lunch, pickup passport  with a Sengalese visa, dash up to the Guinea who issue it within about 20 minutes. Later @ the hostel, another girls tells of the Burkina visa taking only an hour. This is good news for my return to Bamako in a few weeks. Pack up in readiness for the early morning start to the border. Try folding up my mattress and find it has a leak so it goes no further!

Wednesday 12 January
12 hrs to Kayes
A necessary evil of overland travel is the long distance bus, but I planned a stop @ Keyes after 12 hours - most were onboard for the long haul of nearly 30 hours to Dakar. A memorable conversation with a couple of Ecuadorian travellers who asked me at one of  the many stops - "do you think we have passed the border yet?" No, that would require you to get off the bus with your passport and get it stamped!

5 January 2011

Timbuctou -Staying at Sahara Passion run by a Tuareg & his wife Miranda, a Canadian. Its right on the edge of the Sahara, and we were regaled with traditional stories in front of the fire last night and a lovely meal. a welcome change to rocking back & forth on a river! Pitch my tent on the roof of the encampement with fantastic views all round. I MADE IT TO TIMBUCTOU

6/7/8 January
Festival au Desert 2011
WOW what an experience. Perhaps I could make my future travelling thematic, with say music festivals as a focus? I could manage that. The festival is free for africans which tends to attract all sorts of beggars & opportunists. BUT the music is amazing, the Tuareg presence is so regal & I really have to pinch myself that I am really here. The harmattans are beginning which brings lots of sand & dust each morning so I go local & start wrapping a scarf around my head & face just to walk about in the day. There are many market stores set up & even a couple of restaurants where foreigners gather over a long coffee or a cheap meal.One evening I was chatting to a couple of Algerians. Another time a couple of Californians who had flown out just for the festival and were flying straight back home afterwards! And of course my fellow pinasse passengers are all firm friends gather together. 

The souvenir sellers are out in force & by day 3 even the handicapped have made it out here to beg from a captive audience!
In the late afternoon there are wonderful cultural activies - camel racing, Tuareg music & dancing exhibitions. Robes, scarves, headresses everywhere. I have to keep pinching myself at the scenes that are 'everyday' here.

Sunday 9 January
I hitch a lift back from the festival site with an aussie family from the encampment, and leave my bag at their hotel. I have a few hours to kill so try looking for the internet cafe, thinking I should print out my flight confirmation. No luck there. I head back to Sahara Passion to retrieve my netbook, the one thing I now have that is sand free, and walk back to town to check out another famous Timbuktou mosque then some lunch. 1 hour after ordering cous cous & sauce, I give up and walk back to the hotel for my pack,and get a moto rode out to thye airport, 1 1/2 hrs before the flight - plenty of time right? Wrong - I get yelled at the moment I step foot into the airport - "where have you been" Why weren't you here earlier?" Didin't you hear the announcement at the festival concert?" We have given our seat away - now we will have to throw them off the flight!" Fly out back to Bamako, and Sleeping Camel hostel to shake out the sand from EVERYTHING. A 1 hour flight that took at least 4 whole days of traveling overland - WOW - worth every overpriced euro that it cost me!!

29 December 2010

NIce to have a day of rest - it feels like it's been go, go, go since leaving Melbourne & get my head around the amazing things I've been doing in such a short time here in Mali. Trying to get the stupid ASUS web storage happening, and beginning to realise it's not me that may be at fault when I find others online complaining about the service etc... Think I may have bought a real turkey!

30 December 2010
Quick trip to Mopti, but another world away from anything I've seen yet. Mopti is one of West Africa's largest river ports, and as such the port area was amazing. Actually just seeing the river was great, after being inland for this long now. And there are the the famous salt slabs that come all the way across the Sahara with the Tuaregs, to TImbuctou, then shipped down to Mopti.
Meet Timorese who lets me in on the wifi, talk to Italian girl Simona about joining her on a pinasse to Timbuctu, get boat trip quotes. This place even has a pool! Meet up with Dominque again in the Dorm she is leaving tomorrow on the Public boat to Timbuctou for 50,000 cfa. I want to leave for Timbuctou 1st Jan, so that means talking to all sorts of blokes who promise the world but alas cannot deliver!

Friday 31 December
I wanted to leave for Timbuctou on the 1st Jan, but no boats going that day so settle for the original offer from Simona to leave on the 2nd January. Meet another aussie, KristyLee in the dorm, who is also going to the festival.
Great Mosque here that has been expertly restored & a walk about town coming face to face with the boys who beg for their madrassas (Koranic schools). They appear in front of you reciting the Koran in a sing song voice, motioning to their tins or bowls for donations.
Good dinner, debate French colonialism with a french bloke who cannot understand why the Malians are not proud to speak french.
Then I meet Dave & Denise who are planning to reaffirm their vows with a Tuareg wedding at the Festival, and again in a stone church in Ethiopia! WOW How very romantic.

Saturday 1 Jan
Skype Tez, relax & enjoy an easy day in anticipation of 3 days on board a boat. Buy some fruit & hear about the new toilet being built on our boat just for us....

Trekking Pays au Dogon

26, 27 & 28 December 2010

Off to Dogon Country for a few days, so I leave my pack behind @ Macks & we're off initally to the gateway town of Bandiagara. That is after we wait for the taxi to fill up. And wait. Our Guide, Seydou starts to get a little twitchy with the late start so we contribute to buying the last seats in the van so we can be on our way. Then we get another battered car out to our drop off point in the Dogon,  (say jiggy boom bow) where inhabitants are strongly animist. Great traditional buildings here.
We have a 7km walk (scramble downhill for half of it) to Kani Kombole for a great lunch & siesta, followed by 5km walk in the afternoon to Teli where we stay the evening, sleeping on the roof of an encampment building ( no sign of any rain for the last decade here. If life in Bamako looked poor, and Sevare even poorer, then here in the Dogon it's absolutely subsistence. Women pound millet, as they have done for ever. Women draw water from a well so deep it takes 2 to haul up the bucket. No electricity. Other than trying to support themselves, our tourist dollar brings in much needed income to a select few. I promise myself to never complain about work again - these women do it oh so hard. But it is VERY picturesque, with its troglodyte Dogon cliff houses in the escarpment that is around 500m high.

Next day we walk 5km to Ende for lunch, meeting up with various other tourist, including an aussie, Dominique after our Guide leaves us over lunch, so he can pick up on his social life out here in the Dogon. At Tireli we do get to see part of a renactment of the famous mask dance, which is a very improtant part of the Dogon culture. The real thing is not due again till 2027 - every 60 years! It was amazing though, and we were the only white tourists there amongst many african tourists! And the local kids were loving the scary masked men!
That afternoon brings a 9km walk uphill (think more rock scrambling) to Begnemato, which is perched high up on a clifftop enscarpment with spectacular views over the  Dogon plains and the required great sunset. This is an interesting village with 3 communities living together here - animist, moslem & christian!  Evan & I take turns to visit the Fortune Teller. I have to say It was a little bit freaky climbing into his tiny hut for my consultation,  but my fortune was all good with lots of good luck (which I think I may  need in the future). We both have to sacrifice chooks (that is PAY for one each) and as well Evan had to sacrifice an eggplant. lol Meanwhile out at the Fortune Teller's hut, I run into the Canadians and find out that Diego (who was not taking malarial prophylactics) has since been hospitilised in Bandigara with Grade 3 malaria but now recovering AND taking malaria meds. A very hard lesson there, me thinks. The next morning we walk 5km to Indelu, across a fabulous rocky landscape to a village where we have our last fantastic views of the plains & cliffs that we've been trekking. Back to Bandiagara, where there is a little toing & froing about money and Segou's impatience to be finished with us (read spend his money).
All in all the Dogon Country was a world apart  due to it's landscape with ancient architecture, mixing it up with a fascinating animist culture & traditions with really friendly locals who seem to have found a middle path of preserving their culture & getting tourists through at a ground level, to form some sort of an income. I was really pleased to get the opportunity to travel there, and see some amazing sights especially so early in my trip.

Merry Christmas 2010

Saturday 25 December - Christmas Day
Mass in Sevare
The Canadians are off on their Dogon hike today so I give them & the hostel staff little koala keyrings for Christmas. Mack, the very good protestant tells me that the catholic mass is @ 8am in town. I indulge again in his FULL breakfast - french toast, pancakes, an array of syrups, tea etc.. and attempt to walk it off to get to the Church. It's open but not looking very active at this time - Then I find a notice for the 9am mass. I wander a bit then get a spot on a pew to begin admiring the fantastic congregation who are arriving to celebrate this wonderful Christmas Day! Everyone is in their best suits, new dresses, beautifully groomed hair braided or tied in matching hair ties.  The music is drumming & percussion with male & female choir sections who are magnificent. They sing the most wonderful 'Gloria, in Excelsius Deo' that it brings tears to my eyes. Absolutely sublime experience to witness a small section of Malian society celebrating their faith & the long 2 hour Mass is over way too quickly. I leave the church with that colourful memory entrenched, and as I wander around I can ignore the dust, poverty and general human survival that is so evident on the streets. If you don't have some food or produce or a service to sell, you'd be very, very hard up......   Every cfa (pronounced see fa) is precious here in one of the poorest countries on the world.
Heading back to the hostel in the afternoon, I'm approcahed by a guide who 'has a Dogon Country trip leaving tomorrow'. 2 Americans (who never transpire) are going and I can cut costs by joining up with others. Later that day  Evan, a public servant from Canberra, turns up & wants in on the trip too. Evan is a much better negotiator than I and together we get the cost down another  20,000 cfa. We sign up to leave tomorrow for 3 days hiking in the Dogon tomorrow. WOW I cannot believe my luck here - all too easy really.

Djenne Outing

Thursday 24 December Xmas Eve
Breakfast at Macs is an affair - fresh fruit salad, muesli, french toast, pancakes, syrups etc with full table service all presided over by Mac himself. 3 canadians studying in Ghana are there at breakfast - Sarah was recovering from Malaria & Diego had stop taking his prophylactics 5 weeks earlier, just because. So of course the table converstaion centred on Malaria, the prevention of & cures etc. They had plans to visit Djenné today  & I asked if I could join then - sure... 2 hrs there, 2 hrs back... We leave @ 9.30am hmmm
Djenné is on the inland Niger Delta & it's history is closely linked with that of Timbuktu. when much of the trans-Saharan trade in salt, gold and slaves that moved in and out of Timbuktu passed through Djenné. The town is famous for its distinctive mud-brick Great Mosque, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988 & is the largest mud brick building in the world. I had planned on travelling there to stay for a couple of nights to see its popular market, but considering the opportunity is presenting itself, I would see Djenné without the hustle & bustle as its only my 3rd day here in Africa.
We are picked up by a lovely young Malian who is happy just to take foreigners sight seeing in his country, without payment (unusual!). His car does seem a little down at heel, but it toddles along for a while, before puttering out in a small village. We emerge form this car and are immediately the centre of attention for the impoverished kids here. Some are horrified and back off, others clamour for photo, photo. A little while later we pile back in the car to travel another 40 kms before comeing to another halt. Hmm now I begin to sense a pattern here. Are you? 3 hours later we arrive at the ferry to Djenne, where we are pounced upon by souvenir sellers - remember its a very slow year for Mali tourism this year due to the many travel warnings being put out by govenments (the Malians blame the French!) I know the drill - don't touch it, and never ask its price if you don't want it - you'll be in for the long haul otherwise trying to shake off a persistant vendor..
We are offered a guide - I don't think we need one,but is the Canadians' trip and if they really want one I'll contirbute. Our driver tells the Canadians that they won't really need one & next thing he is being harangued by the local vendors/guides for his advice. During this performance the ferry leaves without us and apparently will return when there are at least 2 cars to transport. We settle in to wait for another tourist, who are in short supply. We finally get to Djenné at 2pm for lunch, and calculate that we have a couple of hours to have a look around allowing for the 3 hour return trip to Sevare in time for dinner @ Macs, at 7pm. We order lunch - the specialty of tion-tion (dried onions, tomatoes & chicken & rice). Nearly an hour later it's served by which time we've all had a good look around and been harangued by desperate locals looking for ANY tourists to sell to. But our driver has received good advice for his car and gives us the thumbs up - we'll be right to get back. Good news, we think.
Soon enough its 4pm and we toddle back to the river back where there is a line up of 4wds and for whatever reason our driver decides to beat everyone to the punch and lurches foreard to 'push in' to get on the ferry first. Of course, halfway up the planks, the car stalls in the water and we slowly sink back into the water. We are non too keen to get out tof the car, so in amongst the yeling the ferry crew try to push the car back. However our driver has other ideas (I'm beginning to doubt his thinking powers really) and starts trying to accelerate up the planks again to get on board, successfully soaking the ferry crew who want to push him out of the way... Not good. We don't want to get out of the car, in the water, so everyone has no option but to push the car back to the riverbank to let the us out and the 4wds on the ferry. On the bank, someone indicates a 4wd to get into, to get on the ferry. Then everyone is on board, and then a bloke is in my face - cadeau, cadeau (gift, gift). I have no idea what he is on about but slowly I get it - he wants money for letting us in his 4wd & on to the ferry!! NO WAY The canadians try reasoning with him - surely there is a line where you do something for payment & then you can do something for good will? No he didn't understand that! In the end I give him a tip - work hard & love your mother, get it translated to french. He is VERY unhappy and we are mighty annoyed with touts/souvenir sellers etc. 
We are soon on the road heading back to Sevare and soon enough the temp gauge is up and we are stopping again. And again. And again. We make it to the highway with no hope of the car going again - he forgot to fill the radiator with water! He arranges for a tow, and the Canadians are beside themselves trying to contact Mack to let him know we'll be late for dinner. I can't understand the urgency myself but they keep trying for reception - mind you we are in the middle of nowhere.. Towing a kaput car. And then of course the rope breaks several time. And then it becomes apparent we are going seriously off road - to avoid the road block/police because towing a car at night is not legal? With the headlights off, because we do not want to be detected! He is driving with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a tiny torch to see the way! But we soon see the back of the power station, we've made it and 12 hours later we're back for xmas eve @ Macks. He had our dinner ready for us - its Chinese food tonight to the tune of xmas carols. I m beginning to understand that Mack has created an eccentric world of his own out here. With full table service for meals, a strict way of doing tasks on time & holding forth at his table of international strangers ! 

Get out of Bamako quick smart

Thursday 23 December
Up @ 6am, pack and walk a dusty dirt road when a taxi finds me and again my fractured french gets me to the right place - a bus station! In Bamako, if you want to go north, that bus station is south of the city. But its not a bus station as such - more a series of bus companies along a very major busy road. The nun had suggested that she like Bittar buses, but alas the bus that day to Sevare was already filled. So I walked down the road to Bani buses, where I joined in the jostle @ the ticket window.  A bloke pushed in to buy tix for Sevare - I gave him my best 'old lady evil eye' which seems to do the trick - he asks my name for the list and gets me a ticket too! Whoa - that wasn't too hard. Breakfast outside is an omelette in lovely french baguette, and a black tea. Then back to the bus 'yard' where the smallest bus seems to getting the biggest attention & yes, its the bus to Sevare. An hour later after all of the bigger buses leave, our bus is loaded to everyones' satisfaction and now women are sneaking in the closed doors, claiming seats. I gain the attention of one woman inside & give her one of my bags, to also claim a seat. Then comes the reading out of names, in order of booking to gain entry to the bus. Finally I'm called & get on, I find the woman who I gave my bag to and she indicates the front of the bus. I think she means that my bag was taken off, and I ask her pour qui? Why? I then head back off the bus to notice that my bag has actually claimed a front seat. Fantastic! I thank the woman profusely, smiling & gesticulating, as you do on a crowded bus. And then we're off. And we're going & going & going & going & going. When we arrive in Segou after 1pm, I realise my hopes of getting to Sevare in the afternoon are dashed. When we stop for prayers at sunset I gather my hopes of getting to Sevare before nightfall are dashed again. I try staying awake on the bus (very hard for me) so I can look for the hostel sign to walk 1 km from the main road rather than backtracking from town. I spot the light pollution and a red airport light - ask a bloke on the bus - (in my best fractured french, of course) if this was Sevare. No he replies, its Mopti. OMG - what are we doing in Mopti, I wonder, but he is quickly corrected by another passenger, i spot my sigh and go into paroxyms of ici, ici, ici. Everyone is laughing and I am so so happy to get off that bus. I wish the bus passengers au revoir and am rewarded with bye bye from the bus with lots of waves as it pulls away. I'm so happy to walking towards another destination off that bus! I walked the km to Macs Refuge, arriving around 8pm. Mac informs me I've missed dinner and truly that's the last thing I care about, but he insists on reheating soup & beef lasagna, there is coleslaw AND then he offers me chocolate cake!! It all seems so unreal that I pass on the chocolate cake (I know, I couldn't really beleive it either) but nibble on dates dates filled with home made peanut butter mmm very tasty ! Mac offers me a room for the price of the dorm - of course I take it - & settle in for a couple of days R & R to try to find my feet in Africa & work out the value of a CFA!

Bamako, Mali

Wednesday 22 Dec 2010We disembark & boy is Nairobi International airport busy! Flights going all over Africa & the world, for so many people, managing it briskly and competently, The airport itself has one corridor that services gate 1 - 35, and lined with so many duty free stores. Obviously this is the place to stock up on Chivas Regal and  smokes, One pharmacy opens but alas no mefloquine, only daily doxycycline. I now hope for better luck in Bamako, where I'm headed in 3 hrs. I'm a tittle weary & calculate that by the time I arrive in Mali I'll have crossed the equator 3 times in 24 hours of flying time, Feeling a little disconnected and happy to board again off to my final destination Bamako, Mali in West Africa! Another breakfast & another 'light refreshment' served as we pass a very slow trip over central Africa.
Six 1/2 hours later we land @ 12.30 Mali time & disembark onto a bus (memories of the old Bangkok airport) to the terminal. Bamako's international airport is about the size of an Australian domestic airport but is differentiated by a rather large woman wearing a white lab coat (obviously giving her that authoritive medical air) circling the passengers inspecting Yellow Fever certificates which are compulsory to enter Mali. And if you don't have that certificate you're quickly ushered in behind a door to be administered said innoculation. Waiting @ the luggage carousel, calculating what I might do if my pack doesn't appear, when out it rolls and I ask a few folk what a taxi might cost into town. I'm approached to change money & as I have an idea of the exchange, feel a little confident doing this as I need the cash to get said taxi into town. After a little tooing & froing exiting with my baggage because I don't seem to have the correct bag chit, I am consumed by many men offering what seems to be the same taxi, manufactured the same year as the driver looks to have been born! I back off and am immediately assailed again with 'he is old man', 'go in taxi' etc etc.  After a it of a sit down back on the airport steps, I wait for the security to deal with my many fans then try again. No worries! I am soon deposited at the Mission Catholique, which is of course closed until 4pm. The taxi driver kindly knocks loud enough to wake he dead AND the door kid. I get in, deposit my bags & set off in search of Larium in the streets of Bamako.
First impressions of Bamako, Mali: dusty, poor, dusty, poor and very, very busy. A dry heat that is very bearable. French baguettes
I manage to find the first pharmacy who only have daily prophylatics. hmm In the search for another pharmacy (with directions in french from the 1st pharmacy) I soon pick up another fan who is very pertistent and hard to shake. I then venture into a taxi to get across town where I score a double bingo. YES they have Larium, but at the very inflated price of $10 a tab. I take the pack & curse my dreadful memory -  but now I need more cash cause I just spent it all on malaria pills! lol. But there's an atm down the road from the pharmacy so the taxi waits, and I get cashed up and am returned to the Mission Catholique where I get keys (with instructions to always lock up and never let anyone in), a dorm bed, inspect mosie nets for the best of the worst and settle in to relax. Dinner is a quick walk across the road and my dreadful french gets me fed, watered and back to the dorm where I realise the fan does not work. This will never do cause the place is as hot as hades - I negotiate with a giggling nun for an extra 1000CFAs to get another room with a working fan. I pack &  leave my wordless dorm mate in a flash. 2 hours later, I'm woken by  my wordless ex dorm mate who now seems to have found her tongue - she is very apologetic. Can she join me, its too hot in the the other room, she's sorry to wake me etc etc. OK she moves in, I go back to sleep and and am woken up @ 4am with my now very wordy room mate having nightmares. Then someone is coming through the door which she didn't lock! Now I'm grumpy - not a good look @ 4am. Its her boyfriend who wants to know if she is ok - I tell him it's a nightmare, is she on larium etc. I go back to bed, he wakes her and now they are both apologetic. THEN she starts packing up and is moving into his dorm. What will the nuns think in the morning??!

Tuesday 21 Dec 2010
Disembark the flying sardine can, get through Immigration to find my pack with its two 'attachments' has made it through unscathed. Get a taxi all the way to Phanat Nikhom by 6pm (now operating on Thai time) as per Franya's advice where Moo is up and lets me in to sleep for a few hours. Thank you Moo. There are now 4 dogs at the restaurant - 2 white & old & 2 young & yappy.  The restaurant is closed today in anticipation of the upcoming busy trade over Xmas & new year.  
Noiy & Bee arrive around 11am with Bee's father. They are all very kind and present me with gifts of a gorgeous sarong from Bee & sandals from Noiy. I am a little embarrassed as my gifts are only tokens (read no room in my bag!). After photos together, we head over to Baeng Saen for a fabulous lunch (not as good as Moo's & Wan's: grllled gai, som tum, crab khao pad etc  mmmmmmmmm (diet? wot diet?). Then we visit an aquarium @ the university. Noiy buys 4 tix, but is soon pulled up afterwards to pay the extra for the farang. This is the first time they realise foreigners pay more! Its a lovely relaxing visit, especially reminicsing about our aquarium visit in Sydney. From there we're off to the HUGE (& still growing) Chinese temple near Noiy's home, to marvel at the unlimited chinese imaginatve decorations.Surely its not time for dinner? Tom Yum goong & fresh boiled crab - yummy = by the beach. So relaxing & certainly a world away from where I'm headed in a few hours. We go back to Noiy's village where we meet her friend who has kindly offered to make the drive into Bankok, as Noiy feels a little nervous about driving at night to the city in her small car. The Mercedes does the trick & I'm soon deposited at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport on my insistance. I want to change, freshen up and try repacking again as this time my pack must transit Nairobi. Of course the best laid plans of mice & men do go astray - my malaria medication was expensive on Austalia, so i bought enough to trial it and start the pre travel bit with full intentions of stocking up in Bangkok @ Boots. I realise too late that I have forgotten the vital step of actually getting to the pharmacy to make the purchase and wonder at my chances of getting Larium (mefloquine) in Africa.  I get my pack gladwrapped, to ensure the attachments don't go astray, check in & settle in for another 9 hour flight across the Indian Ocean to Kenya. Another late dinner, sleep then another early refreshment before landing @ 6am Kenyan time

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Monday 20 Dec 2010