Blogs from Mopti, Dogon Country, Mali, Africa

1/1/2011 - day in Mopti On arrival in Mopti we were met by our tour organiser - who would accompany us on the river and festival sections of the tour. This was a good opportunity for some down time and washing. Four of us decided to take a walk around the town before dinner and while it is a major town in Mali - it didn't really hold anything special for us. The main area of interest was the Mosque, and we were invited up onto people's roofs to get a better view of the Mosque. "No charge" they say, but, you don't get anything for free and on the way up the stairs onto one roof we passed a little area set aside for making local handicrafts. So you know that you are going to ... read more

Geo: 14.4804, -4.19001We made our way from Djenne to Mopti to start our journey to Timbuktu. Mopti is the typical launch point for all those lost souls who think that you have to visit Timbuktu at least once in your life. The options for getting there are numerous. You could fly (not only is this notoriously unreliable, doesn't this miss the point of Timbuktu??), drive (we're planning to drive back, but the mystic of Timbuktu demands a more time consuming adventure to get there), take a public ferry (again, very unreliable and based on the one we saw, the only thing holding it together was the rust), public pinasse, or private pinasse. Not only is the private pinasse far less crowded, you control your own journey and are able to stop in villages along the way ... read more

Well another night out with Yousouf and Arnaud last night. Met a Colonel in the Malian Army who seemed to like me and hooked me up with contacts in Timbuktu. Also he’s a good contact to have. Yousouf finally let me pay for a round (not that I was trying too hard to) and also gave me a CD. An early rise, a bit rough, and I was on the bus all day. I actually met Anil on the bus, which was good so we went to a better hotel than we’d planned in Mopti. Many annoying “guides”, but I can’t blame them as people are so poor here --- well not Yousouf, but most. I feel bad for the children, especially the girls. I am embarrassed of the obscene opulence in which I live relative ... read more

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 in Mopti and next is a 3 day canoe trip to Timbuckto.... read more

Saturday 08th November After a coffee and an indifferent bun at the overpriced patisserie we leave Kayes. The dust is just as bad in the morning as it is in the evening. We cross the Senegal river which is alive with activity. People washing, small piroques getting ready for the day, it seems like all human life is there. If it's not on the river it's on the bridge which starts with a sand trap. The road is good. Too good in the sense that our day is going to be a long one, 400 miles, and there is little to keep me from drifting off into a reverie and losing concentration. Well, that's not quite true to begin with. Although we are back to scrub savannah there are still the baobab trees which symbolise ... read more