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Published: January 11th 2011
Our trip actually started on Christmas Day when we left Bamako (still minus luggage and particularly worrying - Michael's medicine) and drove to Segou. It is about 240km east of Bamako and sits on the Niger River - the trip took us most of the day - a good opportunity for our group to get to know each other.
We stopped for Christmas lunch on the side of the road and had bread, goat and watermelon. Merry Christmas - we all commented that we usually had watermelon for Christmas at home. It was a really quiet spot and slowly the kids from the village started to come closer to us. The boys are a bit more adventurous than the girls and as they became more confident, they crept closer and helped finish off our lunch and we gave them our yoghurt to share.
We spent only one night here before moving on - but had time to take a pirogue (small boat) up the river to visit the small village of Kalabougou. The trip takes about 30-45 minutes - so armed with a couple of beers - we set off - our guide was getting to know what we liked.
This village is known for its pottery and we watched as the women were taking the baked pots out of the fires to cool. The women mould the pots out of the mud from the river, fire them, glaze them using local products and then they are sold on into the city. I was pleased to hear that the men (old men) and boys collect the wood and straw that is used to fire the pots. It is hot and dusty work.
To gain access to the village we first had to visit the village chief and pay a sum of money - after payment we could ask any questions we wanted and also were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted. It seems that the chief's decision is still final - while we were there he was dealing with a young teenager who had been fighting and causing some trouble - poor boy had to sit on the bench with us and wait his turn to be heard - he looked worried to say the least. Each night the old men meet with the chief and discuss village business and so life goes on - seems
to work for them all.
The chief's house was a little more grand than the others in the village and he had a big "pet" tourtise (I think about 35 years old) roped to a hole in the wall (don't know if there was any water around for it) - and still don't know the relevence of the pet. He also had a horse cruely tethered by our standards in his yard - when asked about it he said that the horse had to stay like that because it had kicked a boy in the head. There seemed to be another solution to us and that would be to teach the kids to respect the animals.......but......
We were approached by a woman with a small child in tow and asked if we had any medicine. The child had a bad case of conjunctivisus (I think that is how you spell it) so we showed the woman how to bath the child's eyes with cold tea and talked about washing bed clothes, etc....we gave her money to buy tea - soo poor and such a simple medical solution...of course we just hoped that our advice would help her and
other women in the village - but dusty villages, dusty children doesn't help with eye problems.
We travelled back down the river to the town on dusk and then it felt like Christmas to us all. Our hotel was run by an Italian and the menu in the restaurant was pizza or fresh fish. There was a small Bozo fishing village on the opposite side of the river...and the fish was great.
Next morning it was a quick walk around the town and through the market and then onto another local village about 10 kms away called Segoukoro. Here we also had to pay our respects to the elder men of the village before taking a tour of the area. The tomb of the founder of the Bambara kingdom is in this village along with a couple of mosques.
Both villages were on the tourist trail but we all enjoyed the opportunity to see village life up close. Each time we were escorted through these villages by local people with good English skills - so learnt a lot about that particular culture.
The children follow you everywhere and I noticed when we were stopped to listen
to the guide that one child had cuddled up close to Michael and was running her hand up and down the hair on his arm.......quite fascinated by all that soft hair.
From here it was onto the next major destination of the tour - the ancient town of Djenne. For most of the people on this trip this is one of the major reasons for visiting Mali, with the major attraction being the famous World Heritage mosque and its unique architecture.
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Linny
non-member comment
Lovely photos!
Great to speak this morning! Skype works well. As does your camera - photos are wonderful. Will forward info re floods here via email. Take care... xx