It was a very long night last night and I have been sleepy pretty much all day. Not that we have been doing a lot of strenuous activity though…Lying in a boat all day is pretty stressful, I must admit.

It was terribly uncomfortable in the tent last night with my resorting to opening the tent flap (and mosquito netting) in order to try to get some fresh air in (it did, but also the mosquitoes which did not seem to be bothered by my mosquito repellent). Just before we were due to get up I had to visit the facilities, which was a bit of a problem, going to the boat was really not an option since it had a few people sleeping on it so I had to go to the edge of the village (remember: pitch black) trying not to think of what might be in the grass beneath my feet and also hoping I was not…polluting…an important part of the village. It was not very nice.

4:30 we got up and started packing. The crew were not kidding as we quickly packed up and were on board by 5:30.

We found out later in the day that the family gave up sleeping in the house because it was simply crawling with rats. They eventually ended up sleeping on the boat. We also figured out that Sue, Chris and I had been using their tent (which explains why, in the middle of the night, the father came and fixed some of the cabling we had not done correctly on the front flap).

We cast off for our second day on the river. We were quickly served breakfast: bread with cheese wedges (which showed, after a bit of investigation, to be turning a funny colour – they were off) or jam (incredibly sweet ostensibly labelled “Confiture de l'Ananas” (Pineapple Jam), right!) of course, with the obligatory tea or coffee (black tea, since it was something to drink, though I don't like it, if you must ask).

We were heading out onto the vast expanse of the lack as we were eating breakfast. Really the lake stretched in each direction to the horizon. According to the guidebooks this lake only exists during the rainy season. Incredible! Not that deep though as we passed numerous plantings of what looked like rice in the middle of the lake that people were actually standing in – though the water only came up to their knees.

As we were crossing the lake, Chris took this opportunity to wash one of his shirts which was a dyed indigo fabric. It left an interesting colour in the water trailing behind us but we were grateful he was washing. The motor stopped yet again.

Eventually we continued on our way to come to the far end of the lake, two hours later, where we passed through a shallow area to head into a rather large city on the edge of the lake. It had a massive beach and the crew, true to form, headed for the women bathers to beach the boat. At this point the family left us, I guess this is where they were headed. We learned that the man had been a volunteer here many years ago and had decided to return to show his family.

Sue and Chris left the boat which Anne and I should have done as well though we did not know it would be a stop of about 2 hours! We sat on the boat and watched the activity on the beach with the young children playing around in the water (and bothering us continuously for the empty mineral water bottles we had though the guys working in the back of our boat had asked for us to give the bottles to them – they wanted to use it for transferring oil…).

Eventually Sue and Chris returned having visited the village to find some cigarettes (they indicated there was not a lot to see there). A bit later another engine (complete with driver) showed up for the boat, I guess this is another reason why they had stopped here. They spent a few minutes fixing the new motor beside our original motor and getting it started.

We took this chance to reorganise the seating arrangement with Ebrima and Diana taking the last row recently vacated by the family. It was now a lot more comfortable for us.

11:00 we headed out again. Only a few minutes later our new pilot had hit a fishing boat (a glancing blow) in the middle of the river and run our boat through his nets (obviously marked). Our pilot was close to being blind! A short while later he almost hit another boat! After these incidents our friends in the front of the boat took to warning the pilot whenever we were getting close to a boat but how he could hit the only other boat on a river at least 100 m across, I will never know.

Lunch was fish with couscous and tomato sauce though I found the fish had too many bones. As our chef was cooking a bit of the oil splattered on Ebrima sitting in the last row so he made the comment “I am not a fish”. We even had a dessert – sliced oranges.

It was a very hot afternoon with one of our fellow travellers informing us that it was 33°C in the shade! We just tried to stay cool taking turns lying on the matting covering the bottom of the boat, and not move too much.

At one point the guy in charge of the boat (never did learn his name) made some comments about my being too big and should move to the other side of the boat to restore balance. I took this in a bit of a bad way and refused to comply: There were more than 15 people on the boat, I would not make a lot of difference moving from one side to the other never mind the fact that there were others more obviously in a position to move. Anyway, after a lot of ranting and raving on his part I said “Je ne parle pas Français” which got a great laugh from our French friends but did not deter the guy from continuing his comments. I then ignored him.

Using the toilet is an interesting exercise. You must first remember never to use the toilet when you are going past a village as there is no door and it is quite…exposed. To get to the toilet you have to hold on to the roof and walk along the sides of the boat that are planks less than 6 inches across (and typically at a bit of an angle due to the tilt of the boat, no not me causing it!) all the way to the back, past the kitchen and motor area. Then you are faced with the torrent of water below the seat that continuously, er, cleans, as you sit and do what you came to do. Interesting.

On asking, we were told we would arrive in the home village of Ali Farka Touré at about 5:00 though we took little notice of this time but we actually arrived there on time! Only to be told as we came into the shore that he was in Bamako. A bit of an explanation: “Ali F” (as I was referring to him, a pun on the “Ali G” famous in the UK) is a very famous blues musician from Mali who is world renown. Chris is a particular fan and had been mentioning all along that he would not mind stopping in Ali F's home village to perhaps pay him a visit. It was not to be.

Never mind, a storm was coming so we did not even get out of the boat but rather found a sheltered area on the opposite shore where they pulled in and covered the boat once again to wait it out. A short while later we headed back onto the river to continue our journey.

After dark they served us dinner (this could be because they are trying to disguise what they are giving us) which was rice with peas and tomato sauce.

Eventually we stopped at a village that was high on the banks of the river with a large sand beach. We pitched the tents on the beach in a much more favourable situation than the harried nature of last night. Chris, Sue and I also managed to get a slightly bigger tent with no where near the ventilation problems of last night. It is capable, I would suppose, of sleeping four but the three of us are quite cosy. Diana, Ebrima and Anne are sharing another tent just a short distance from ours. Anne had found sleeping last night in the boat was intolerable as she had been eaten alive by mosquitoes. Tonight, she had decided, she would sleep in a tent.

It is still a bit early but I am in bed (we had the foam cushions from the boat again) to hopefully get a good night sleep. Tomorrow we are supposed to arrive in Timbuktu.

⇒ Continue to Day 13 - Friday, July 30th, 2004