Unfortunately the time came to leave African Safari, the lodge just outside of Mako. We had spent two fairly luxurious days lounging by the pool and taking in the wildlife around us. Hippo’s grunted below us in the Gambia River whilst monkeys fought in the trees on the opposite bank. It was the 10th of March and we were heading into Mali. As usual, we were taking the scenic route…
From Mako we drove East and crossed the border into Mali near Saraya. It was a scorching hot day, definitely the hottest yet on our trip. Nevertheless, the border crossing was pleasant enough and immediately we felt very welcomed by the Malian people. From Saraya we drove towards Kenieba. From the various maps we had available to us (MapStudio, Michelin, Lonely Planet, Rough Guide and Bradt guide) we were aware that there was a piste leading over the escarpment and towards Kasama. However this route certainly wasn’t on Garmin’s Tracks for Africa and so we relied on many locals and passers by to point us in the right direction. At one point we had a group of people telling us to go in different directions, an indication as to just how scenic our route was! We headed north on the road to Mahina and eventually we found a road to Batama at the bottom of the pass. From there we began the challenging trundle up the steep rocky escarpment. This was a road solely suited to off road vehicles (and the occasional local on a motorbike)! Near the top of the escarpment we stopped to set up camp for the night. We had an incredible view encompassing the small village of Batama and the planes beyond. In fact, it was the perfect moment for Paula and I to whip out some ice cold G&T’s!!! Paula had snuck off to buy them earlier in the day and we had cunningly hid them in the bottom of the fridge. Like manna from heaven, they went down “like a home-sick mole”!
We set off early on Thursday, 11 March, and continued up the pass. At the top of the plateau we passed through the village of Kassama where we handed out a football (in fact one of the signed footballs from our farewell party!) to some very excited kids. Although the road had levelled out it was still rough going as we travelled from village to village. As we passed through one village we heard the sound of drums and singing and we decided to jump out the cars to investigate. Before we knew it we had been swept up in a colourful wedding celebration! The girls were pulled into the centre to dance while I was handed a large drum to beat! Again the Malian’s warmth and hospitality amazed us!
The road improved as we arrived at the dam wall on the north of Lake Manantali. We continued on through Kita and then turned off the road to find a spot to camp for the night. As we drove through the bush we came across a group of young boys playing soccer with a small, pap football. We decided it needed replacing and so we jumped out our cars, pumped up a new ball and soon we were playing a dusty game of soccer!
We arrived in Bamako on Friday the 12th of March and took our first look at the magnificent Niger river. Our first stop was at a shopping “centre” to stock up on some much needed supplies. We then drove on to Camp Kangaba which is an excellent campsite south of the Niger and about 10km out of town. We had sundowners on their beautiful deck which is set high up above the campsite.
We used Saturday morning to try to establish the strange clunking noises that were coming from the underside of both cars. The camp manager kindly called a mechanic out but even he was perplexed. Eventually we resigned ourselves to the conclusion that it was just worn-out bushes that were causing the problem, but we weren’t convinced. In the afternoon we took a worthwhile trip to Musee National which houses a stunning collection of textiles, masks, statues and archaeological artefacts. We also visited the Fetish Market in town which went some way to explaining the lack of wildlife in any of the parks we had visited thus far. The stalls held a stomach-churning array of medicines and cures including hyena heads, dried chameleons, snakes, chimpanzee hands and feet and dead parrots.
That evening we thought we would try get a taste of Mali’s renowned music scene and so we headed off to Exodus, a bar/restaurant on the sides of the Hippodrome horse racing track. The food was decent and the live music was entertaining albeit a bit short. The Hippodrome itself though provided a lot of entertainment as we watched young boys race horses bareback around the incredibly dusty track.
