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.