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Background: 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 1991 with a transitional government and in 1992 when Mali's first democratic presidential election was held. After his reelection in 1997, President Alpha KONARE continued to push through political and economic reforms and to fight corruption. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, he stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE.

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By johnnyrivers
April 28th 2009

The Mali Finale! part 4- Into the Sahel Africa » Mali » North-West

Our Transport to Timbuktu!

Man...and I thought the trip from Ouaga to Mopti was long... boy was I wrong! Sixteen hours... that's how long it took to reach Timbuktu. Sixteen hours cramped into the back of a Tro Tro filled with eight people in the back, four in the middle, three in the front, and one guy on top. Sixteen hours, of minimal water and no food. Sixteen hours of hot hundred degree weather amplified exponentially by the extremely close quarters. Sixteen hours of sandy Sahara dust blowing in through the windows. Sixteen hours stuck in a vehicle where no one spoke English. Sixteen hours [View Full Entry]

By johnnyrivers
April 27th 2009

The Mali Finale! part 3- Mopti Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Mopti

Playin' the Waitin' Game

The road to Mopti was...eternal? Yeah, that's a good word for it! Long and hot, dry and dusty. We soon found that the further north you go, the more expensive water got...which is kind of a "no duh" statement since we're traveling into the Sahara desert...hmmmm... At any rate, crossing the border was a pain, not because of any large amounts of paperwork, but because of the excessively spread out process of starting and stopping. We would drive for twenty minutes, and then everyone would pile out of the tro so we could have one guy check out passports. Then we [View Full Entry]

By lprice4
April 27th 2009

Part 2- trip out to Dogon Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bankass

The “bus” to Koro wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. It was more of… I wouldn’t even know what to compare it to because we don’t have anything like it in the US. It’s a little bigger than a short school bus, and the seats are very similar, but go all the way across so they fit like 5 or 6 people in each row. And of course no AC. I was sitting next to an older woman and he husband and she didn’t know and English and I don’t know any French, so we had a very exciting conversation with [View Full Entry]

By lprice4
April 27th 2009

Part 3- hiking through the Dogon Africa » Mali » Dogon Country

Dogon statue

In the morning we woke up for breakfast and met up with Souleman to head to the Dogon country. We took a horse cart which literally was a horse pulling a flat piece of wood on wheels that we all sat on. As we were driving out of Bankass and through other villages little kids would run out of their houses screaming and waving at us as we were driving. I felt like we were in some sort of parade. It took us about 2 hours to get from Bankass to the first village Kani-Kombole. So Souleman was our guide and [View Full Entry]

By lprice4
April 27th 2009

Part 4- TIMBUKTU!! Africa » Mali » North-West » Timbuktu

camel caravan

The next morning Souleman had arranged for a vehicle to pick us up and bring us to Mopti. Once again it was an incredibly hot and crammed van on a terrible bumpy road, but we were getting pretty used to this by this point. While we were sitting there, Berkley and Jess talked with some guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who owned a 4x4 that he takes out to Timbuktu. Normally this would seem like a sketchy situation, but its pretty much how it works in Mali. There aren’t many transportation options like busses or trotros, its [View Full Entry]

By Carravanquelo
April 21st 2009

I love you, Bamako... when I'm not busy hating you Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako

Popenguine, home of mussel man

Two and a half weeks removed from Senegal, I admit feeling rather disinclined to document our vacation there. Not that it was not a great time. The weather was terrific (about 20 degrees cooler than here), the nearly deserted beaches of Popenguine and Toubab Dialaw were fabulous, and even the pushy vendors of Dakar could not detract from its cosmopolitan flair. But something about returning to noisy, dirty, smoggy Bamako felt good, familiar. Of course, I’m ready for another vacation at this point. There have been a couple of noteworthy developments since our return. For one, we have f [View Full Entry]

D'oh! Can't remember the name of this slave island

By philannie
April 19th 2009

Mali- Mud mosque country Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Mopti

Markets on the way to Djenne

After 3 days of pleasant sightseeing in Bamako-all the old sights but many new,we moved on. We were luck as well with visas. After 4 hours of searching Annie and I found the Niger Consulate and obtained a visa in less than a day. We followed with a Nigerian visa in 2 days. All in all a successful time. After 1 night bush camping we reached Djenne with its world famous mud mosque. Most towns in Mali have mud mosques but this is the largest mud structure in the worls. I had wanted to see this for 25 years.We now are [View Full Entry]

By Uwargida
March 29th 2009

Africa Moment #17 Africa » Mali » District of Bamako

OBAMA Pagne

Obama pagne - notice anything askew? I also saw Obama panties but couldn't get a snapshot. Is it just me or is it disrespectful to put the president's name on panties? And, if you are going to go to the trouble to design some fabric, I should think you'd want to make sure the guy's flag isn't backwards! But, maybe that's just me! [View Full Entry]

By Carravanquelo
March 18th 2009

So hot!!! Africa » Mali » District of Bamako » Bamako

Nora chided me the last time she read my blog for always claiming shock at how long it’s been since my last entry. It’s a genuine sentiment, though. Perhaps I’m easy to shock, or perhaps the notion that I have of myself as a regular blogger is woefully misplaced. In any case, wow, it’s been a long time since my last entry! When I look back over the past three weeks, one of the only defining things that comes to mind is the heat. It is ridiculously hot these days! Hundreds during the day, 80 degrees at night. As it gets [View Full Entry]

By Carravanquelo
February 20th 2009

Tour of Dogon Country Africa » Mali » Dogon Country

Sunset over the Niger River in Segou

I settled down to write a long entry chronicling the myriad things that have happened since my last post, but now that I’m at the keyboard, I feel like that task is too daunting—a lot has happened! Instead, I feel more inclined to give just a brief look back at the past three weeks. In that time Nora and I went to the Festival on the Niger, had Nora’s parents and brother visit us, traveled to Dogon country, and returned to Bamako with the first wave of hot season sweeping over us. Now, those three weeks of activity and heat seem [View Full Entry]

Nora and Karen along the riverfront pottery market

Nora, Mike, and Karen along the riverfront

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