Blogs from District of Bamako, Mali, Africa

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako December 6th 2015

Josh1990

02/12/15 we cover 400K and camp close to the Côte d'Ivoire Border north of Nielle, 03/12/15 some slow processing from the Ivorians after forgetting to stamp a third of the passports at immigration. Within 20 mins of clearing the border we are escorted to the local guandarmary (likely a border tip off) to check through the passenger docs, a slow 1.5 hour wait before we proceed on route via Ferkessedougou to Kohogo. 04/12/15 After staying the night at The Mount Korhogo Hotel 8 of us head out in a couple of taxis for a tour of several artisan villages in the district, including a sacrificial site which is regularly used by the local (animalistic) religious people; seemed mostly feathers but some skulls etc. After a short walk around town and its large mosque we enjoy a ... read more

Reisverslag Mali

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako July 16th 2015

Jw_peter_gea

Peetsblog

De reden waarom we naar Mali zijn vertrokken is om mijn broer Jan-Willem te bezoeken en steunen tijdens zijn buitenland stage. Hij is 24 jaar, studeert toegepaste biologie en wilt in de sector van de plant veredeling gaan werken. Daarom loopt hij nu acht maanden stage bij East-West Seeds. Een van de grootste veredelingsbedrijven van Afrika en Azië. Het is zijn taak om proefvelden op te stellen en onder andere de hibiscus, pepers, aubergines en ui te veredelen. Hiervoor heeft hij een groep Malinese landbouwers tot zijn beschikking gekregen die hij het vak moet leren en instrueren. Op de dag van onze aankomst verbleef hij hier bijna drie maanden met nog vijf maanden te gaan. In een land waar het reisadvies negatief is, hij de taal niet spreekt en weinig mensen respect voor hem hebben of ... read more

Every child deserves a 5th Birthday.

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako April 1st 2012

Stomping Out Malaria in Mopti

Skyfire24x

Blog About Malaria Month 2012 Over half of a million people died from malaria last year. This is more people than in the average American city. Imagine the entire city of Atlanta being wiped off the map. The year before, we lost Denver. The year before that, all of Boston, all gone, in one fell swoop. The majority of these deaths took place in Africa. In fact there are six countries that account for over 60% of worldwide malaria deaths: Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, the DRC, Nigeria, Mozambique, and … Mali. Malaria has been around for centuries. King Tut likely died of malaria in 1332 B.C. This makes it seem like fighting malaria is a lost cause. It’s been around since forever and it’ll be around forever. But this isn’t true. Malaria is on the decline. ... read more

A view from my apartment

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako February 13th 2012

Skyfire24x

I really want to video everything when I walk around to help explain to people what life is like here, but I don't really feel comfortable doing that. I was able to more or less steathily record this street scene from my apartment window. It's a pretty boring video of the street below, and actually one of the quieter and calmer moments. If you have anything that you want me to get on camera here, let me know!... read more

These City Streets

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako January 30th 2012

My Bamako

Skyfire24x

Every morning I walk a little over a mile (~2 km) to work. Between dodging traffic, stopping to greet people, and picking up some breakfast along the way this can take me almost 30 minutes. This combined with the walk home in the afternoon is by far the most stressful part of my day. It can at times be the most fulfilling, but this morning was not one of those experiences. Today as I was walking it was impossible to ignore the rancid smell that filled the portion of my walk that takes me along a paved road. There is normally a mix of smells in the air, and admittedly most of them are unpleasant: burning trash, exhaust from all the vehicles, and occasionally urine and feces. I’ve become more or less accustomed to all of ... read more

A history of Thanksgivings past

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako November 24th 2011

Thankgiving 2010

Skyfire24x

Thanksgiving is my friend Raven's favorite holiday. Aside from the insane amount of food involved, I never really understood why. This year however, I realized that Thanksgiving is an important time, and not just because of the desserts. Thanksgiving is where this all started. It is where everything changed. In 2007, my entire family got together outside of Elkhart, Indiana in a place called South Fork to celebrate Thanksgiving. A few days before my pending departure to Guinea, the day served also a going away party (there were posters with elephants on them that said, "Good luck in Africa, Samantha!") and a pre-mature birthday celebration (birthday cake and pumpkin pie, really what more can you ask for?) A lot has changed since then. One year later I was in the West African capital city of Conakry ... read more

Back to Bamako

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako October 18th 2011

Old Friends and New Ones

Skyfire24x

After two years, I've come back to West Africa. The first two weeks in Senegal were surreal. I just dived back into life African Peace Corps lifestyle as if I had never left. My French luckily reappeared. But within 24 hours there were people testing my Pular as well. This proved to be a bit more challenging to recall. But I was never fabulous at Pular, so it was really as if nothing had changed. It was as if the last two years of my life hadn't happened at all. No year in Boston, no MBA from Portugal. This was very bittersweet. There was a a degree of relief: I knew how to do things already and I could easily slide in the flow of life here. But there was also a sense of regression: if ... read more

Bamako - Mopti

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako September 4th 2011

Mopti port

Afryka

Wyjezdzamy z Bamako rozklekotanym ledwo zyjacym autobusem w strone Segou.Wbrew pozorom to nie pojscie na latwizne ale wielkie wyzwanie. W porze odjazdu autobusu jego naprawa trwala w najlepsze, kiedy wreszcie ustalono tankowanie i odjazd myslelismy ze szturm ludzi jednak zniweczy mozliwosc odjazdu i zniszczy "pojazd". Na kazdym improwizowanym postoju ludzie proponujacy towary wszelakie ( od manioku przez wode w workach,kukurydze itp) w liczbie kilkukrotnie przekraczajacej liczbe podrozujacych usilowali znalesc sie wewnatrz autokaru w tej samej chwili,podczas gdy pasazerowie za wszelka cene usilowali sie z niego wydostac ,by sie przewietrzyc. Gdy kierowca ruszal czesc ludzi odpadajac od wejscia torowala droge tym ktorzy dobiegali by jeszcze dosiasc do jadacego autobusu. WIdoki tez fajne na mijane wioski. Z Segou zabiera nas pan dyrektor ds melioracji i gospodarki wodnej ktory studio... read more

wszystkie dziewczynki maja misternie zaplecione warkoczyki

“Come on mate you’re not an explorer”

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako May 22nd 2011

1 - Djenne in the morning

thedribbleman

I sat there amongst the rubble that was the Mopti 4WD station. It was dry season and the weather was scorching. At 830am it was already in the 40’s and there was no sign of departure. I waited a few hours, constantly with the thoughts that how much longer do I have to put up with this annoying guide standing by my side and the prospect of leaving at the hottest point of the day. As the time ticked to 10am I questioned my motives for going, ‘Why do you need to go here? Because you have to? Because you can’t say you’ve traveled Africa unless you’ve been to Timbuktu? Come on mate you’re not an explorer. You’re a traveller. There is no need to go there. Just because it’s classed as the ‘Holy Grail’ of ... read more

FACES OF MALI...BAMAKO TO SEGOU

Africa » Mali » District of Bamako February 26th 2011

EMILE

Dancing Dave

FACES OF MALI...BAMAKO TO SEGOU The Malian people are handsome...the men are peacocks...and the women are too busy working... The peoples of the Bambara, Dogon, Bozo, Bobo, Felani, Songhai, Tuareg... handsome all. Welcome to the first instalment of "Faces of Mali". I will show photos of the stunning scenery, scenes, events, in my 'Images of Mali' blogs. Enjoy and regards, Dancing Dave (who danced his way through Mali culminating in his Tuareg wedding at Timbuktu!!!)... read more

Brief history of Mali

The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in...more history

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