Mali: Burkina Faso - Sikasso - Bamako - Didieni - Diema - Bougoudiré - Nioro - Mauritania

Written by traveladdict

Last updated 2005-06-01 01:42:42

Jul.7, 2004: Burkina Faso - Sikasso About 20 km after entry in Mali, we already stop for a waterfall-break. It's a beautiful quiet spot and due to recent rains, water flows in abundance. We discover some trees filled with colorful horned caterpillars. I wonder how the butterfly will look like?

Jul.8-10, 2004: Sikasso - Bamako We have a few days rest at Sikasso to recover from lack of sleep, itching mosquito bites and increasing fatigue. It's a splendid tar road that leads us back to Bamako, where we pitch our tent again in the gardens of "Le Cactus".

Jul.11, 2004: Bamako Good timing! We have been dreaming about the Sunday buffet ever since we left Bamako the first time. So very predictable, we stuff ourselves with the splendid food, until we can barely move. No harm done for Wim, he has gone so thin, he can use some flesh to the bones. We don't do much else than reading and spotting the weavers who build their nests.

Jul.12, 2004: Bamako Since we didn't get an "entry" stamp at Sikasso's police station (overeager policemen?), we try to get things official here at the Sécureté. It works out OK. "Vue en passage" will have to do. Also the visa for Mauritania is fixed today. This must be celebrated at the marché d'artisanat. Result: blue leather sandals for me and a piece of ebony wood for Wim. He will try to do some woodcarving on the road.

Jul.13, 2004: Bamako - Didieni We leave in the morning and until Didieni, the road is smooth, but after that? terrible! A broad washboard piste which makes false teeth tremble out of your mouth (if you have any, and we fortunately don't). Good that it has been dry today, so we can use the alternative side piste most of the time, without getting our feet wet. But the more north we go, the bigger the puddles are. 50 km before Diema, we park the car and enjoy a spaghetti dinner in our huge tranquil garden.

Jul.14, 2004: Didieni - Diema - Bougoudiré I've let my feet hang out of the car during the night, because it was so hot inside. As a result, we are covered with new mosquito bites. This time I swear to myself, I won't scratch. I already have a history book of scars on my legs. Each wound infected so much, that I had to use antibiotics every time.

We reach Diema and continue a piste to Nioro. A beautiful dark blue cloud follows behind us. We take time to stop and take some pictures.

How fascinating the sky is? with all these layers of blue, white AND BLACK! The storm quickly catches up on us.

At Bougoudiré, we stop the car and literally run for shelter in a boutique. Now a brown curtain has fallen down: major wind boosts blow the dust meters high up. And all the garbage with it. It's rather a frightening sight? People run home from the fields, donkey carriages fight their way through. Everything has gone silent except for the raging wind that carries everything with it, which wasn't properly attached.
And then it starts to rain? Together with five locals, we are trapped in the boutique for more than an hour. But it is interesting! We sit on bags of rice and observe these people in all peace and quiet. They do the same with us and conversation starts? We are offered spaghetti and now we try to eat this as descent as possible? with our hands. That's the way to do it here. Not easy!

Rain stops and we inspect the condition of the piste. No way we can leave now! Everything is mud, mud, mud. Some people arrive on foot in the village. Cars are stuck down the road. This means we will stay here for the night and wait till things have dried up a bit.

A man invites us to his home to have a "cup of milk".

Barry doesn't speak French, but he looks a nice man, so why not? We walk over the fields, on and on? Where is he taking us?! Is this a lousy trick to steal our car while we are gone? The two other men? are they out to kill us? Of course not! We arrive at some huts and see cattle. Barry is a Peul man with a huge herd of cows and goats and also a large family to take care of all this.

Some of the younger children return with the cows: ready to be milked. This is truly an exceptional way of life to us. The picture is complete when Barry saddles his white horse and majestically rides away.

Jul.15, 2004: Bougoudiré - Nioro No rain this night and it seems like the sun will dry the surface now. With a little bit of luck, we can reach Nioro today. Terror! What a mighty mud piste! Tracks are sometimes so deep that an alternative piste is made to the left, to the right, more to the right? Which one to take!? Barefoot, I inspect the depth of the puddles and Wim wades through with Ependa or creates a new track in the fields. Many trucks are stuck along the way, people are waiting. Casualties of war? I don't like it at all.

But after three hart attacks, several times nearly-stuck and one time that the angle of our car was almost too much for gravity, we arrive in Nioro. In one piece. Only a little bit dirty? What a relief! I wouldn't suggest this piste in the wet season. The last 10 km are a laugh. Here it looks like it hasn't rained at all. What a difference in such short distance. After going through border-hassles (No, we did not pay the 1000 CFA to the police and we did not kill the two boys who threw stones at Ependa), it's just an other 200 km on a perfect new tar road, straight to Ayoun El Atrous, Mauritania.

Pictures with this story: www.traveladdict.be