Geo: 13.9054, -4.55589As quiet as Bamako's streets had been in the middle of the night, they were an extreme of chaos at first light. The whole city was an almost cartoonish representation of every African city you see in the movies- roads shared by vehicles of all descriptions (some defying, by many years, the natural lifespan of any mechanical device), livestock, beasts of burden (including the human variety) , and vendors of all shapes and sizes- anything from a lonely soul selling a limited amount of fruit from a small basket to the more incomprehensible (who buys elaborate bed frames at the junction of busy roads?? And the selection was pretty good). There was some semblance of structure- which probably eliminates Bamako as the worst place to drive through (think anywhere in India)- but practicality definitely ... read more

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097 Not much to say about Paris- I just wanted to include it on the map because a number of people had asked about how you would get to West Africa from the confines of Toronto. There is obviously nothing direct from Canada and even connecting through the U.S. offers up very few options. Air France, however, has a extensive schedule serving a number of their former colonies in West Africa so we're using them via Paris to get to Bamako, Mali, and to return from Cotonou, Benin. The flight from Toronto was overnight arriving early in Paris and, of course, the flight to Bamako didn't leave until late in the day so we had the pleasure of the Paris airport for extended hours. Just to make sure that you knew you were in ... read more