Enjoying the city of Segou on the Niger River

I made my way to Segou, which was the 3rd largest city in Mali and located on the Niger River. I had heard it was a relaxed place for a big city and I was not disappointed. I liked the vibe of the place right away and that my hotel was just a few minutes walk from the Niger River. It was the weekend and there were quite a few tourists in Segou for the weekend.

I had to get used to the many calls of "hello my friend" in my direction from the guides, CD music seller, souvenir shops and boat people. At first it made it difficult to have some peace down by the river, but after the first day they recognize you and give you some space. The best time at the river was early morning on the river as it was much quieter and people were starting their day. I could see the women doing their washing and the fishermen repairing their nets. Those selling things were not yet at their shops and it was as if I had the place to myself.

The second day in Segou I took a morning tour to a small picturesque potters villiage called Kalabougou. It was just me and a local guide in the early morning before the other tourist arrived. The first thing I had to do when I arrived in the villiage was meet the king of the villiage for an introduction and permission to visit the viliage. I told him he was the first king I met and took some pictures with him after a 10 minute discussion with the guide translating for me. I learned that he must deal with all the problems that can arise in the villiage. It could be a disagreement within the tribe, building a school or resolving issues with other tribes that can still lead to battles amongst the different tribes.

I wandered about the villiage and was happy to see the villiagers went about their daily life without much focus on me. I visited the different huts and saw the process of making their different types of pottery. I have some good pictures of the process that I will post when I return home. I was there too early to see them make the giant bombfires so they can fire the pots. I was pleasantly surprised it see that the viliage had not yet been spoiled by tourism but the cost of the tours from the previous years was enough for them to build a modern school for the villiage.

I want to talk about my accomadations in Mali for 12 of my 14 nights. Many of the hotels or villiagers offer for you to sleep on their roof at night. You are provided with a mattress and usually a mosquitoe net. I chose the roof almost every night over a room. During the day it gets very hot, but because we were close to the desert it cools off at night. I loved sleeping on the roof at night falling asleep to an amazing views of the stars from Africa. Some early mornings I woke and needed to throw my sleeping bag over me as it got quite windy. I would much prefer to sleep on the roof then a stuffy hotel room that might take hours to cool down after the heat of the day.

My second full day in Segou I took a boat tour of the Niger and watched the river come alive with activity. I took a private boat with 2 Dutch couples that we nice enough to let me join their boat tour. I paid only $10 for the morning tour and we had a big pirogue(large wooden canoe and motor with a much needed cover for shade from the sun). As we pasted different villiages you'd see the fishermen out with their nets or the women preparing a meal along with a number of different daily chores. We stopped in a different fishing villiage and learned more about the life in a villiage. Once again I was happy that the villiage was not too touristy.

I spend 3 nights in Segou and easily could have stayed another night enjoying the city and Niger river, but wanted to keep moving with my next stop being Sevare and Mopti.

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