Well, and interesting day if not exactly as expected.
The day started off with what was supposed to be a two hour river cruise to see some crocodiles on the river Niger...
However, the local chap running it decided that he could double his profits by cramming 14 of us into two litte fishing boats; i say boats, they were canoes the local fisherman (in crews of two) use. There were 8 of us in one boat, and 6 in the other (it should have been ' in each boat). Due to this the canoes were very low in the water and like me at Christmas... pretty tipsy!
The going was therefore rather slow and so after an hour we still had an hour to go before getting to where the crocs were. As the chap charged per person per every two hours, he was rather happy at his enterprise as it would mean the round trip would take us 4 or 5 hours. At that point we all decided to tell him to turn the two small craft around and return us to the camp site.
This was welcomed by all on three counts:
1) We all would have burnt to a crisp being exposed in the sun here for 4 or 5 hours.
2) Had a croc had winked at either canoe it would have found itself being offered a lovely breakfast of Westerners.
3) We all would have not been covered by our travel insurance as some bloke by the river hardly constitutes a professional outfit.
Still, we paid our 500 potatoes (our phrase for any local currency; but here it is the Central African France) and enjoyed the slow river experience... despite those who spent their time bailing out the canoes as they had lots of leaks and as we were so low in the water it kept coming in over the top.
We then headed into town to wonder around the markets... being offered various trikets that cutsoms would cringe at and confiscate within seconds of returning home... snake skin this and that.. bits of animals etc.
We also wanted to go to the voodoo market bit, but due to a small error of understanding (its easy to see why) some locals took us to the French Cultural Centre instead... as they thought that "we want to see the shrunken monkey heads" was a term for our european neighbours! Nice to see that the French are equally adored the world over.
Off to find a restaurant soon before heading back to another night in the campsite, along with squillions of mosquitos, beofre heading off to Djenne tomorrow to see the big mud mosque. Then it is off to Mopti to find a 4x4 to take us on the 12 hour trip across desert up to Timbuktu... nothing there apart from a stamp for the passport to say that we got there!
Then it is off to Dogon country to see the villages for Christmas.
Which leaves me to say:
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Mali's Flag
Map of Mali