Thursday 13 January
Crossed the Senegal Mali borders
A reasonable night's sleep in Keyes, & in the morning find their Gare Routiere to purchase a ticket. Now this does not mean that I actually get anything – this means I’m loudly approached by a tout, who wants to know where I am going. Ok, ok he says, 5000 cfa. I pay and am then instructed to “sit over there, sit over there”. Over there is a 2 sided shed with a few benches and some passengers from last night’s bus already ‘sitting there’. So I sit and wait cause I’m not in any hurry & even if I was I would still have to wait. Then the young bus boys start to gather bags & cases from a humongous pile behind me and start loading onto the bus. This is a good sign, methinks. I wander about the yard and am immediately accosted by the Koran singing beggars. Ignoring them, I quiz a few waiting passengers about the destination of this bus- yes, they agree it it going to Diboli (on the Mali side) & Kidira (on the Senegal side). Everyone is milling about the bus, the bus boys are busy hauling and pushing the luggage into the bus storage and generally looking very busy hopping on & off the bus, but certainly not letting any passengers on. I head back to the shed, where someone notices me, and takes my pack to join the ever growing piles of luggage to go on the bus. Then the ‘book’ appears – now this is very good sign because it has the names of the passengers who have bought a ticket and are called on board in order of purchase. Much discussion goes on in the bus amongst the bus boys & the boss, who then clears off again with the book. This is a bad sign. More milling about and some information is being passed amongst passengers, and we all wait some more. Then a mini bus turns up – turns out they are over booked and are now taking the opportunity for 2 buses to cross the border. The book appears, Kidara passengers, of which I am one, are called onto the mini bus when I realise that my pack is on the other bus. No problems, I’m told, this bus & that bus are going together. And sure enough we do meet again @ the border. Out we go from the small bus, get stamped out of Mali, then I am asked ‘where is your luggage?” Hmm now I realise that I have no idea which the 3 parked buses has my pack. Then one of the buses starts to drive off – no problems again, I’m told, we go together to the Senegal side. On the Senegal side all bus passengers' bags are opened & searched- imagine 40 or so stripey bags full of heavens knows what - all undertaken under the watchful gaze of all the curious passengers. My pack is hauled out of one of the buses & for once is reasonably tidy! Then all hand luggage is visually checked & patted down! OK we’ve finished and next we are negotiating with a taxi. First I go into the Police office to get my entry stamp – no not here. But the driver knows where – but curiously he parks about 3 blocks away and we walk the rest of the way, while the rest of the taxi passengers have to wait. And so do I because the policeman is now praying. After enough praise is given to Allah, he turns his attention to me – and asks if WADE is a family name in Australia. He’s curious because it turns out the Senegalese President name is WADE, pronounced wad. This provides us both with some amusement (always a good thing @ borders). Onwards to another minivan then the numerous police stops & checks in the first 100kms of road lengthen the trip. Only real noticeable difference between countries seems to be that there are mile markers & the roads this side seem in reasonable condition compared to the washed out pavement in Mali. I overnight at Ouro Sogoui - try saying that with a mouth full of marbles! lol
No comments :
Post a Comment