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