We Made It!! Timbukto

Well, 3 days later, we are finally here. At times it has been doubtful that we would even attempt the journey. Once we left Dogon Country and arrived in Mopti we, on a bit of a whim, found ourselves buying tickets to board a cargo boat on friday and travel north on the Niger River up to the fabled city.

We arrived at the boat around 10 am to fight for a spot to sit. The boat, a questionable vessel at best, was a double decker (pictures coming soon). The hold of the boat held bags of rice, millet, and who knows what else. The second floor of the boat, where we would fight for space, was reserved for first class passengers. The term first-class is a bit of a stretch but in comparrison to the cargo hold, we were livin it up. The boat was schedulued to leave somewhere between 2 and 5, whenever the boat was full.

We climbed up the side of theboat, layed down our straw sleeping mats, and sectioned off a 6 ft x 6 ft area with our bags. We knew this was about a sixth of the total space and would never be able to maintain and defend it all, but it seemed wise to take more than we would need in order to give some up later. As the hours passed, more and more people kept boarding,and the noise level grew as passengers "debated" the space in which they would spend the next 3 days. Things got real interesting when the police commisioner and his family boarded and claimed a space the size of ours for his family. That very same space had already been claimed and fought over by 3 different parties.

Little by little we had to give up sections of our space. 2 Brits would eventually share it with us. We would attempt to sleep the 4 of us head to toe. As night fell on the Niger, mosquito nets went up and we were preparing for a peaceful night on the river. The boat pulled to shore, in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea why. The cook started passing around out lobster and steak dinner (or maybe it was rice with a red sauce) and we crossed a 6" wide plank to the shore to stretch our legs and eat. As soon as we crossed the wind began to pick up. For the next 4 hours we would be consumed by a massive wind/lightning/rain/sand storm. The boat remained still throughout the entire storm. The open sided boat was filled with sand, as was every person and object on the boat. Once the pounding rain slowed we went to sit on the roof and watch the lightning. It was quite spectacular to see the lightning reflect off of the puddles on shore for as far as we could see in the stark darkness.

Eventually the storm would end and people would begin to retire for the night. We were all crammed in comfortably like sardines until 'the frenchman' and 'the invader' showed up and flopped 1/2 on top of us to sleep. Mike bravely tried to hold our ground but their advances were relentless. Soon there were 6 of us in our space. I eventually got up, as did Tom and Jo (the 2 Brits) to spend the night outside. We watched the lightning and stayed up for as long as we could. Eventually exhaution consumed us. I slept on a mostly dry table, Tom, at 6'2" lying on a refridgerator, and Jo sitting on a bag of millet, and Mike battling throughout the night under the cover of the roof (defending my spot he says - i think he sprawled out comfortably). We would wake before dawn and watch the sun rise. The second day was spent resting and chatting with people on the boat. I slept on and off deciding that being nocturnal on this ride would serve me well.

Fortunately quite a few passengers disembarked along the way and we had only 3 people in our space. We were "dirty-stay-up-lates", Mike, Tom, and I. We sat un a small triangle at the very rear of the boat watching the stars and enjoying the ride. The boat would occasionally stop a short distance from shore in the pitch darkness. There in the middle of the night people sat waiting for the boat to arriver to collect whatever cargo belonged to them. They would come out to the boat on small piroggues to collect their goods and we would soon be under way. One of the more memorable stops was when 1 man jumped in the water in the middle of nowhere, not a building in sight. He waded back and forth carrying 50 KG bags of rice and millet on his head through the waist deep water. I used my headlamp/flashlight to light the way for him as it was brighter than the spotlight on the boat. It was a most remarkable night.

Day 3 the boat made a few other stops letting of passengers, animals, and goods. Around noon we pulled into Kourikume, the village 16km away from Timbukto, where we would board an old range rover and ride into timbukto.

The town is covered in sand and has quite a feeling of mystery about it. The nomadic Tuaregs are here this time of year dressed in noble blue robes and turbans, quite exquisite looking. The piles of sand in the barely visible streets and narrow alleyways leaves no question as to whether or not you are in the desert. A strange feelng is in the air here to begin with and we both feel a sense of accomplishment in having made it here, in part because we now have to head home, and in part bacause we accomplished what we set out to do.

In an hour we are mounting our camels and heading into the desert for the night. It would be interesting no matter what, but considering the sandstorm we are in the middle of, it should be quite memorable.

I am off to buy my turban.
until next time...
luv eric and mike

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