Towards Timbuktoo

Part of the mountain range

This is the road through the desert. But this did not look at all like the images you see on Discovery Channel or Nat Geo, the dry, sandy endless desert. This was rainy season and it was very green, covered with grass and the trees were green too. For a while we drove along a mountain range and then onto the plains. 

Nomad tent 

Nomadic herd
 

Nomadic herders were everywhere with their cows, camels, donkeys, goats and sheep. They had also pitched their tents in the distance. It is fascinating to see how a little water can just change a place so quickly. They also passed a few small towns made up of mud houses and reed huts, most of these had a small mosque built in the style of the region. 

So, here we are on the plains of Timbuktu but they did not get ate by a Cassowari, coat, hat and hymnbook too! They trundled on this bad dirt road for a bit again getting tired and hot. But the river was near and they would know then if they can cross that day or camp in the bush.

River crossing

They got to a small village on the river and could not see any ‘port’ activity; it was just like any other bank of a river. There were a few cars parked at the other end of the village where the children indicated we should go.

There they found people waiting patiently, saying that the ‘bac’ will be back in an hour. And all the men (drivers) started discussing cars and which one is most appropriate for this climate, the type of land and for the work to be done. They inspected the engines. Coen even got tea from them.

Hey, true enough, the barge did appear. It was full of people and vehicles but the guys assured them that all our 3 cars would cross that day. When the vessel beached (there is no port here) the vehicles drove off, some getting stuck in the sand.

On the ferry

Our cars had to get on backwards for some odd reason. It was a bit of a climb but they were all on when the one Merc got stuck and did not have enough power to get up the gangway. Hans had to help tow it up. And they were off, across this river with its very peculiar people.

They were guided into the town of Timbuktoo by the Director of Handicraft for the region. He took them to the Refuge du Sahara where the manager opened to let the cars in the back of the place. The tent was pitched on a concrete slab and the others parked their cars and settled for the night.

The director/owner of the place pitched up and showed them around. The place is quite empty. They have not seen tourists in months, only a few locals.

After a quick meal of whatever was readily available, a quick shower and they were ready for bed. The night was quiet except for the odd donkey braying and the dog barking. Coen was not comfortable, worrying about the car’s clutch, the brakes and other things.

Doors of the school

In the morning the manager brought them typical bread from the area. They had concluded that they would have to appoint a guide in order to have peace while visiting the town. Ibrahim the guide was there and explained where he would take them. They agreed on a price and how much fuel they will contribute in the director’s car.

Inside (SA) library

Timbuktu mosque

House of explorer

The tour took them to the 3 mosques, the houses of the 3 explorers who made the place known to the world, passed a few libraries that housed the ancient books and writings and the market, not forgetting the library financed by South Africa which was unfinished and not open to the public.

Inside the library

They visited the oldest library, this housed a multitude of manuscripts written about various subjects: medicine, astrology, mathematics, the life of the prophet, sha’ria,  resolution of conflict etc. To think that they have all this since ancient times, one would conclude that the human being does not really learn anything from books, but goes on making the same mistakes.

From the other side of the river it has been noticeable that tourists  have been through this place: children have only one word of greeting ‘kado’. They are persistent too. This was not very apparent in the other places they visited in Mali.

Windows of the library

All along they were followed by other guides and hangers-on. 

There was no way of shaking them off even if they had their own guide. The history of the place is quite fascinating but to see what it has become due to bad governance and neglect is sad.

After Chinguetti, she did not expect Timbuktu to be much better. Bigger yes, the roads are wider, the houses are mostly made of sandstone bricks carried on donkey back from quarries kilometers away, and tend to be longer lasting than those in Chinguetti. Some of their doors and windows are also something to look at.

The car was waiting for them at the other end of the market and they drove back in 40C heat. Everyone was wilting or dehydrated. They discussed what they wanted more from the market and Ibrahim (the guide) said he would get it for them.

He brought the merchandise and a few friends who also make jewelry in the Touareg style. Some more haggling and some more buying, and they were left to spend the afternoon at leisure, under the shade of a tree.

Leaving Timbuktu

They left the campement as early as they could and reached the port a bit after 8 the next morning. Unfortunately there were trucks and buses ahead of them and they did not manage the 2^nd ‘bac’ of the day. Then started a long 2 hour wait in the sun.

It seems that most of the children and adults had understood that it would be useless to keep pestering them for something and left them alone in their wait for the barge.

All manner of activities was going on in the village attached to the port. In short, people were just going about their business. The passage to the other bank of the river was also part of the day-to-day business, not a struggle like at Rosso or at Barra.

Camel plough on Douentza road

Camel jockey on the road back

Mountain range in the distance

Once they were on the Douentza road, they all concluded that they would have to spend the night in Douentza itself since there is no better road – it was this same bad dirt road back. 

They found the Campement Dogon and rented a room there while the other 2 cars settled as best they could in the rather muddy parking of the place. That evening Elismé managed to make a cottage pie for dinner. There was air-con in the room and they managed to spend a quiet night.

Just a'visiting

Coen did not go with when they went to Djenne thanks to the shoddy work done on the radiator by Silverton Radiators. When the radiator was removed to find where the leak was, they noticed a piece of gasket in there and whatever signs of the work they claimed to have done were not there.

On the road to Djenne

This is how she went with Hans and Elismé who cleared their third seat for her. It was not a very long drive and the ferry trip was pretty straightforward too.

Ferry crossing

To get to Djenne there was a bridge and a ferry as well. It was market day in Djenne , the roads were bustling with activity, smells and atmosphere. The two cars found a place to park and they walked to the famous and biggest mosque made of mud. There were a couple of signs saying that 




non-muslims should not enter.

It was not prayer time and it did not say that women should not enter either so she was removing her shoes to go in when a guy came from the side saying that she should not enter. Upon enquiring he said it was because she was not muslim. How does he know this, she challenged. A bit defeated he told her to go see the ‘old man’ around the corner.

Largest mud mosque

Well it was not around the corner, it was down the steps and then around the corner, inside a lean-to shack. He had not view of the entrance of the mosque nor could he speak decent Frence or English – you ask how could he be the guardian of that mosque.

Inner courtyard of mosque

Whichever way she was asked to recite something. Still he said it was not enough. She enquired why they are doing this to her when two white people entered the mosque before her. That put the cat amongst the pigeons, the first guy who hailed her went off to find out. She was told she could get into the mosque but also that she has made trouble for them.

Inside of mosque

Well, it was true. Two pale faces had entered the mosque and the guy did not see. Now he was losing face and was a bit frantic that she should not enter. She was in already but they were following her, four of them, guardian included. Defeated, they told her she had to pray there and then.

She felt that her beliefs were forced out of her but she did 2 nafil rakaats while the 4 guys were arguing behind. Again she defeated them and they did not know what to say. She went out through the back door of the mosque and sat there full of resentment. And that got them highly upset that they all came and asked to be forgiven, saying they were sorry and giving all manner of lame explanations why they did what they did.

They followed her through the mosque asking for forgiveness. She told them stupidity did not need to be forgiven! And that God was witness of what they did. Whew! Did that get them hot and bothered. The one said that it was Ramadhan and she SHOULD forgive. She just told him not to dictate to her what she should and should not do.

Other view of mud mosque

When she exited, the one told her that the guardian wanted to see her. In his shack he too asked for forgiveness. Well, tough, that they were reduced to that due to their own bigotry, it is their issue.

They walked a bit more in the market and were on their way back when Coen sent an sms saying that the work on his car was done and he was waiting for us in Mopti. This is where they headed.

Mopti is known as the Venice of Mali – Ahem! Mainly because of the

Mopti port

waterways there and the shape of the river boats (pinasse) but otherwise it is a far cry from Venice. It also is the biggest port in Mali. It is situated where the Niger and the Bani rivers meet.

View of port from pinasse

Coen guided us to where he was waiting and said he thinks that a boat ride would be better so that they would not get hounded by so-called guides. He had a ‘pinassier’ shortlisted for us and we made for the boat. It was a comfortable banana shaped boat, well appointed for tourists – a P C as the Reunionese would put it.

Rainstorm on river

Rain on river

She had seen the dark cloud that was already bringing rain further upriver but still went ahead in the boat. As they reached one of the islands on the Niger river, the rainstorm reached them. The boat was being pushed towards the island and the boatman did his best to keep it in its course. They asked him to stop struggling, to just let go and wait for the storm to pass before going on.

Typical village of the region

He brought the sides of the cover down to stop rain from getting in, while he held a reed mat in front for the same purpose. After a while the rain abated and they could proceed back. They were hungry, tired and concluded that they will head back to ViaVia for the night.

After breakfast the next day they took the road to Timbuktu, towards Douentza first and then north. Half the road to Douentza is good, then it gets bad, with potholes in it and from there on north it is a dirt road which might be seeing some maintenance after the rains.

North East Mali

View on the road east

Coen had problems starting the car. The guard of the auberge had offered to wash the car and there was some water in the distributor but it soon started and they were off to get some shopping done and proceed. The road out of town was not very good, it also had lots of traffic on it at that time in the morning. They were heading towards Segou. 

Flooded land

Flooded land

Water retention

They had bits of good roads and bits where there were potholes that could generally be avoided if traffic is not heavy. There has been heavy and steady rains in Mali since June; there were signs of this all along the roads we took towards Segou. 

Old administrative building

They got to Segou early enough to go investigate where to camp. The Office du Niger place did not look as if it has been visited in months, the same applies to the campement/hotel next door.

Then there was Hotel l’Auberge. It was well located and has nice atmosphere too but no camping. They were referred to hotel l’Independence for camping. This establishment is managed by the brother of the Auberge and is rather close to a main road. The camping space was adequate but also in the parking of the hotel, so there was a constant va-et-viens until late at night. For ablutions, the swimming pool facilities were used.

Art workshop

 

Segou style building

 Segou must have been a nice town in the time. Some architect in the colonial times had the wisdom to design the administrative buildings in the spirit of the region. Many of them are still used as administrative buildings and are quite beautiful. 

Fuel pump

Food storage?!

However, rural Mali is still very 'manual' in their agriculture and related activities. Many of the towns and villages on the road we took are made of mud bricks and thatch roofs, rondavels and square in shape. We also saw some small buildings on stilts that are not big enough for living; the conclusion was that these are for food/grain storage.  




Many parts were flooded but the other farms lands were being worked manually. Even the petrol pumps in those villages seem to come from the past!

They had breakfast there next morning before starting off in the direction of Mopti. On the way Hans found that his braking system was failing and they also saw a leak in the radiator of our car. On the way they also noticed that one tire was losing air. They quickly changed the tire at a roadside and carried on. Hence the decision to go on to Sevare and see what repairs can be done there.

In Sevare they visited as many hotels as possible which were offering camping. In short there were none that are rigged for campers but they let you use their parking facilities and you share the ablution with their workers. Not an ideal situation especially if you have car work to be done.

As per the recommendations of the Sleeping Camel lot they ended up at Via Via hotel where Coen chose to stay in a room and the others parked in the tiny parking lot and camped in their vehicles. The room is well appointed and has toilet and shower but the mattress is made of cheap foam that is not very comfortable.

With the help of the fan, they spent a fairly good night except that Coen had a sore throat.

And the next day, Sunday, they were all busy at doing works on the cars. It was hot, the sun was out in full blast. She was nursing her arms in the shade while updating the blog.

Bustling Bamako

The cars approached the city from the north, from a bit of a height and you can already see the extent of the place from there. It has developed on both banks of the river, and is connected by two bridges, the said 'new' bridge and the Martyr's bridge. Traffic is hectic, there seem to be cars and motorbikes just about from all sides.

With the help of the GPS they started looking for this one place, Le Cactus, which is said to be a bit out of town but on the river. They had to ask the SA Embassy to kindly look up the phone number for them and then they followed the directions given by the owner. They got there but concluded it would not do for their purposes, and got onto the road to the Sleeping Camel.

They had a phone number for this establishment and eventually parked at a petrol station and a person from the place came to guide them. They booked a room while the others parked and settled to sleep in the cars. It was late afternoon, warm and humid. The managers of the place, two Brits who seem to have some experience living and traveling in Africa, are rather clued up on what is going on in the country and also about visas for the other countries around.

The Sleeping Camel is your average 'auberge' which you find in this neck of the woods: bit of camping, bit hotel, bar and restaurant and all manner of tourist arrangements. At least this place is better maintained than a few others they have had to stop at: there were seats on the toilets, the amenities were of a certain age but working. It is opposite the Egyptian embassy and next to the German one. There is some traffic noise but in general the place is quiet.

That evening, since the others went out to draw money and had chips on the way, Coen thought he's try local cuisine at the auberge. They had Haga Haga, an excellent sauce with pieces of meat in it. This kitchen also serves Toukassou (meat with dumplings), Poulet Yassa, Zoum Zoum and poulet sauce arachide (tiga degge).

Visas were a priority now. Obtain as many as possible and then move on. Hence, the men had all of them fill the visa forms for Burkina Faso and from there  Coen said they would go to the South African Embassy for a courtesy call and see what help they could get from there. After the men departed on their errands, the girls hit the road for the market.

That was an experience. The sun had gone behind some clouds and walking was possible. First they had to tackle the traffic to cross the main road so they could be on the footpath of the bridge. It was quite a laborious affair to cross roads here; there are hundreds of motorbikes swarming through in the one direction or the other. But, when they see you hesitate on the side of the road, one of them would stop and let you cross and for the cars, it is a question of asking. And they would do so almost smilingly.

And they walked and walked. They reached a very 'market' area and very crowded too. They were looking for the craft market which was in the middle of the general market and the great mosque. They found the place when it was raining earnestly. There was all manner of typical craft from this region, some fascinating, some less. Then they looked at jewelry and bargained a bit but did not find their joy.

On the way they stopped to take shelter from the rain and it was at a spice stall but the old man there spoke no French. Despite that they did manage to get a kilo of hibiscus flowers to make tea. Further on, they talked to another spice stall vendor and learned about baobab powder, onion flakes, fermented onion mash etc, all wild and wonderful ingredients which they use in their cuisine.

One guy mentioned that he could show them 'karité' (shea butter) that Mariana has been talking about since Dakar. So they followed him to his shop. He had the refined quality made by the women's co-op but the ladies were looking for the raw stuff. So they walked further, through muddy and rather filthy roads and paths to a depot where they bought a kilo of that.

Then they looked at fabrics, and bogolan (fabric traditionally made by hand and originally dyed with earth). They were taken through the one market into the other and then back and through little lanes and between shops to what the locals call La Caverne d'Ali Baba. This is a place that sells much of the traditional art of this country. It was interesting to hear the stories they have about their products.

And they walked back. It was warmer, the traffic was slightly less hectic and they made it the whole way, on foot. They walked a bit further to a patisserie where they downed a bottle of water and bought chwarmas for a late lunch. The men were back from the one visa run, had some advice from the SA embassy consular assistant and were on their way to do another visa run. They seem to have been successful with their day.

Libya Hotels!!!

That evening some people from the SA embassy were visiting them at the Auberge and were bringing other people to talk to them about their visits further. This was a jolly evening. Elismé and Mariana made snacks and the men looked after the drinks. The people came with their kids. They know the place and often come here to let the kids loose and have a relaxing time. There was a lot of exchange of information while the kids had a run around. The people were very friendly and knowledgeable.

Cité Ministerielle

Since she did not have 4 similar photos, she opted to go with Coen on the morning visa run. There she managed to see the 'new' bridge and that part of the city where the administrative complex is. She did her photos at a small shack not far from the SA embassy, then headed to the embassy of Ghana. The consular person there was helpful and understanding. The appointed taxi then took them back via Toyota agent and a pharmacy.

Coen had to go with Hans to the bank to sort out of ATM issues. Here and in many towns in the region, the atm's (when you can find them) only work with Visa cards and that only those that have a 4 digit pin code. It was getting very difficult to get money. They were told that in town there are bigger banks and they would have more luck there. But still Hans and Stephanus had problems.

 Early afternoon was for another visa run, some resting and blogging. She, by then, had a full blown reaction from too much sun on her forearms and neck. It was nasty, itchy when hot and sweaty. She was taking a mild antihistamine that did not have any effect whatsoever. By the evening the arms were swollen and she had problems sleeping.

In the morning, when Coen went out with Stephanus to do some checking on the vehicles, she went with and popped into a pharmacy nearby to enquire about all these itches and scratches. She came out of there with antihistamine cream and tablets etc. Let us pray that these work because they are heading for more sun, desert and wetlands too.

That evening they had the meat with dumplings. It was tasty and interesting. One would assume that these people with their desert would have rather simple dishes. It is not so, for centuries caravans have been passing the place to and from the middle east and have brought with them spices from there. These together with what they have locally make up Mali cuisine. In her kitchen the cook of the auberge showed a few of her ingredients and explained how to prepare some of the food. A real eye opener. The spices for the sauce wtih dumplings has cloves in it and pounded toureg 'arachide'. This is not the usual ground nut but something that looks like it but very little is used in the dish.

Monument on a roundabout

They finished whatever packing they had to do that evening and sorted out the car in order to start off the next morning after breakfast.

Mountainous Mali

Yes, our crossing into Mali was through the mountains. A new road that is intended to be the south corridor into Mali and Guinea from Senegal. The idea is very good and let us prays it lasts.

Waterfall in the mountain range

Formalities out of Senegal were done in Moussala and the cars threaded their way through the mountains to find the customs and immigration into Mali. That was a bit of a search. They were told to go into town (Kanieba) and that was a bit of a search because the town is quite a way off that new road – an active little town where lots of women ride motor bikes on bad dirt roads. Here also the officials were happy to have something to do. They were given a good welcome.

Formalities were done, passports were stamped and cars were acknowledged for. They were advised to take the road and try to be at the bridge before 15h00 when it opens to the public. The Chinese are working on the roads here and they are also re-building quite a few bridges.

This is where the ‘plan’ defeated us yet again. After fairly good roads, the cars went onto a very well graded dirt road. And then the bridge was in sight, but it was still closed. They stopped the cars and went to enquire. Well, tough luck, there was a sign on the bridge saying that as from the 12^th the bridge would be closed – they were dismantling the temporary bridge and the new one was not ready for road traffic!!!

The Chinaman who seemed to be in charge uttered his little English to explain to them that if they needed to get to Bamako, they had to go back the way they came, up to Kaniebo and then get onto the Kayes road.

Well, we tried to find a place as far inside and off the main road as we could and they set up a bush camp for the night. Coen wanted to stay at altitude for the night, at least the temperatures would be more bearable. Indeed, it was quite pleasant while they were setting camp, doing food preparations and just relaxing.

The men were discussing the road and the trip onward and the ladies were hard at work to get food done. Elismé was making a meat and vegetable curry with rice and a banana pudding.

Bush camp by night

All manner of bugs were buzzing when they prepared to retire: shower, loo stop etc. They put netting in the windows again and hopped into the car for the night. The mattress now had a sheet on it and the pillows were out of their box since the previous bush camp.

The moon was nearly full and the night was pleasant – a first since we started this whole trip. The place was silent except for the hundreds of bugs and frogs around.

The next morning they were packed and onto the road before 8h00. They reached Kaniebo and asked for the way. That was the start of a very long and tedious day through a pathetic 200km of dirt roads that have not seen much maintenance in a while. They were practically traveling alongside the range of mountains where they saw the signs for gold mines and other mining activities. Not that these fabulously rich companies had done anything for the locals and their access roads….

There again, they decided that the road was getting far tooo tedious and they’d stop and bush camp a bit off the road. It was already hot and humid and they again opted to sleep in the car. They stopped at Sadiola for a little top up on fuel and then drove away to find a secluded place to camp.

They were visited by a few cow herders and a curious youngster but otherwise did not see much of the local population. Mariana made a chicken pot for dinner and they retired for sleep when the moon was just up. It sure looked full, even if it was not, it lit the place up quite nicely.

At coffee the next morning, Hans noticed a scuff mark on one of his wheels. The spring had popped out of its place and had to be re-set. Then started the bush mechanic after which we started again on the bad dirt road a bit later than expected. Parts of this road was fine but others were not. There were nice baobabs with their fruits hanging to be seen all along the road but they were too busy checking the road for holes to enjoy the view. 

Overturned truck

In the town of Kayes it was Sunday but there was a bustle on both sides of the river. They filled the cars  and drew money and took the road which was shown to them. This was a tar road full of bad holes that can do some real damage to the car. And they were concentrating on the road again. The GPS was not indicating the directions they thought they should be on. There was quite a bit of truck traffic on this road. The sight of overturned trucks with their cargo sprawled alongside the road is not rare, and in the small towns there are trucks lined up on the roadside doing some repair work or other.

Finally, in a small town, they stopped to adjust the GPS with the other GPS' and ask. Well, they had passed the town of Sadaya and the road was not quite good and they were not on the expected road but on a fairly new road that has been tarred on what was a piste from Sadaya to Bamako. 

This was a blessing in disguise. It was longer but the other road they wished to take was in a bad state anyway. When they realised that they would not make Bamako that day, they looked for a place to bush camp. This was not a very good idea since it is rainy season in this fairly desert country and the place was holding water and that means mosquitoes. They were sleeping in the car again and had put mosquito nets on the windows but got badly bitten when they were taking a shower in the open.

This was under a big baobab and next to a rather self-pruning one, on overgrazed land. It was quiet except for the odd cattle in the distance. They spent much of their night scratching where they had been bitten

Senegal Oriental

It was not difficult to realize when you have reached a Senegalese town again, when you see the thrash, dirt and flies. Strange how close they are and how different they can be. In Gambia, they were told, the President declared the third Monday of the month was reserved to clean the place. Most people chose that day to wake up late but the place stays clean somehow. This does not apply in the rest of Africa!

They found a place outside Velingara and bush camped. Elismé made grilled chicken and mixed vegetables, and for pudding they had mango crumble. The sky was grey, Coen decided that they’d sleep in the car that night. So they took out whatever they required from the car and sat down to relax before dinner. The girls were all involved in the food preparations.

And the rains came down as dinner was getting ready. Thunder, lightening and some wind too. It sure cooled down the place. They had pulled the two awnings from the other cars open and they had dinner under there. It was a bit damp but they managed to go through the whole dinner process, after which the rain stopped.

They all had a shower of sorts and went to bed. Except for the occasional vehicle that passed on the main road, the place was quiet enough. It was a bit warm in the car at first but they opened the windows and sprayed the place against mosquitoes and got some sleep.

Ground hornbill

Hans wanted to see the park of Niokolo Koba. So this is where they headed the next day. They went into the town of Tambakouda to get supplies and fuel and some money and also meet with a tour operator to get more information about the roads.  They were told that getting a guide into the park is imperative – that made things less interesting; because of the way the cars are packed, there is no space for a guide. Some kind of arrangement was made but when they reached the gates of the park, there was no telephone network and the people were at a standstill on what decisions to take. So they waited for Hans to drive back into town to get network connection and make some calls again.  

Park entrance

This could easily be described as a ‘plan foireux par excellence’. When it was finally settled how much one pays for the entrance and the camping, we started the journey inside the park accompanied by a ‘guide’ who sat in a corner of Hans’ car. The road was long, bad and not very interesting. They saw a ground hornbill, a few warthogs, some baboons and some cobs.

Driving on this road was a mission, it took about 2 hours to get to the Simenti camp where there was a hotel with swimming pool (they were told) and camping facilities. Well, no, not really. It was the typical African scenario, a well appointed hotel that was falling apart, a swimming pool that has not seen any maintenance in ages, no electricity and practically no running water! The camping grounds were not much to go by either.

Lookout point

Since they were there and they had paid, they settled in as best they could and prepared for the evening: pitching tent, sorting the cars, while Mariana prepared food. They went to sit at the  ‘lookout’ point for a bit and saw nothing much. By the time food was served, they had concluded that they would ‘duck’ wash in the dark rather than use the shower that was opened for their use – there was no running water!

Clean and dry they retired for the night when the guide called up to say that there was running water in the shower. After that, there was a long loud argument among some men nearby, which lasted until late at night. Makes you wonder when they wrote about resting in the ‘symphony of the night’ on their advertisement.

Monkey war

In the morning, there was some washing to be done and someone had put the water pump on again. By the time they were having breakfast of coffee and biscuits, monkeys and baboons were visiting the camp to see if they could steal anything and went off with some bread and some cookies. Coen and Hans took out their catapults and war began. 

Bush coiffeuse

 The rest of the day was spent washing, doing maintenance and staying ahead of the heat and humidity of the place. There was some hair cutting to be done, some eyebrow shaping, some cleaning. Our car had to be put to dry because the water tank was partially open and had splashed some water all over.  

Brunch was prepared under the tree and after that some had a siesta while others wrote up their memoirs and read. It was agreed that they’d secure that room where they could shower before the group arrived. Imagine, in this crumbling place, they were receiving a group of 32 tourists from Gambia! Rooms and rondavels were being cleaned and the generator was put on. Not only was there running water but there was electricity too, along with the noise of the generator.

They chatted to some of the new arrivals – mostly people from Holland. That evening she made a tabouleh for dinner, there was ox tongue in Madera sauce as snacks and canned pears and local oranges for desert. They tried to make an early night of it.

The next morning, they packed up; a laborious affair. Coen wanted to take a shower afterwards but by then they had stopped the generator and there was no running water either. Anyhow, with their guide, they went on for a game drive. Well that was not much to write about either: a few ground hornbills, warthogs, baboons and cobs and that was it. There are no animal tracks to be seen off the road they took, no signs of any active sort of wild life whatsoever. 

It seems that they had to displace whole villages from the area when they declared the area as a park and put military to patrol there – which might explain the scarcity of animals…. And they chose to impose a guide on visitors so as to give the villagers some kind of additional work.

Hans went to drop the guide back in his village and they proceeded towards the border. The decision was to get to the next ‘big’ town, draw money, fill the cars, get whatever provisions they could and find a place to camp for the night. This they managed to do by 16h00 that afternoon. The road was good after Kedougou and they found a place on the old, disused road to camp.

For dinner the men made a braai and this was eaten with braai bread made of cheese, tomatoes, onions and asparagus while Elismé made up something with beans. It was quite early when they retired and very humid too. Earlier, Mariana had offered some cut up pieces of mosquito netting and they had put these on the windows of the car and kept the windows open. The breeze was not forthcoming but later on there was a slight breeze that made some kind of sleep possible.

Early in the morning the rains came down; with a bit of wind and it cooled the place further making a dosing off more bearable. When they decided to got out of the car, it was still drizzling steadily. With the usual last minute packing and coffee and biscuits they took to the road to the border with Mali. They had to stop in Saraya to do some customs’ formalities and proceed onwards to Moussala for the rest.

Saraya is a village almost and the customs’ officers were glad to have something to do and people to talk to. They were very helpful.