Day 24 - Tuesday, August 10th, 2004

Another, hum, interesting day. We were at the station, as requested, at 7:00 am to queue for tickets for the train but some “helpful” people there asked us to sit down on a bench out in the front instead. We watched as the massive throng of people there cleared as the daily Kayes train left. The queue for tickets on our train was inside the station but was not really that long. We waited.

Our decision had been to go to Kaolack instead of Tambacounda, which Chris and Sue have been discussing (with the idea of heading south then returning to our houses in the west by travelling through The Gambia). During our travels we have heard that travel across The Gambia was not really all that good with stories of bush taxis stopping after going half-way and refusing to go any further and buses that are simply not running at all (there are supposed to be two a day). Of course, we had heard similar things before we left but the reality of it was just sinking in. Anne and I figured we could go half-way across Senegal then take the same route back as we had going to Dakar – Kaolack to Barra (the ferry for Banjul). The train does not stop in Kaolack due to the fact that the station is closed (why you ask? Is not Kaolack one of the biggest towns in the area? Does it not make sense that there be a station there? Probably, but the one there is closed now) so we agreed on purchasing a ticket for the station just after then taking our chances with getting transport back to Kaolack then onto The Gambia.

We had plenty of time to scheme.

At 8:00 the ticket agent finally opened and the people queuing were able to start purchasing tickets. The line wasn't moving very fast though as there were people at the front (in co-operation with our “friends” that told us to sit outside) purchasing large quantities of tickets and being let in and out of line as they wished by the “security guards” standing at the front. Eventually we got our tickets and were asked for his commission: 10,000 CFA each (beforehand we had, amongst ourselves, thought that 2,000 CFA would perhaps be reasonable)! The ticket itself was only about 30,000 CFA anyway! At least, the ticket looks legitimate – it has our names hand-written on the back along with the correct destination (Guinguinuo) and the correct dates. Actually, it was not that bad, we had given him only 20,000 CFA of our own money when he went to get the tickets, only requesting his “fee” an he remainder of the money after he had purchased the tickets.

As we were leaving, Chris and Sue showed up so we told them of our experience (after pleasantries, of course, and shock and finding them staying at our hotel, as we agreed, having arrived yesterday – despite them not appearing in the hotel register when we checked last night!). We urged them to join the back of the queue quickly to get their tickets. Later that night we were told that they waited for about an hour with the queue not really moving at all with certain people going in and out of the front of the queue all the time. Chris and Sue were only one person from the front when an announcement was made that there were no tickets left! They managed to get tickets anyway.

I should point out that the tickets we have are first class and not second. We were told that second class is quite dangerous as far as thieves are concerned (well, so is first, but there are supposed to be guards in first class). Diana and Ebrima had taken the train and had emphasised that first class was the way to go.

Heading out of the train station with the treasured tickets in our pockets we went off again in search of money. The train had cost a lot more than we bargained for (10,000 CFA commission! Each!). Anne had some Euros to change as well as some English Pounds. We found that the banks would exchange the Euros but would not touch the pounds (directing us to an exchange agent down the road who wanted to give her only about 2/3 of what they were worth!). Anne changed some of her Euros at the bank and we headed across the street, flush with cash, to the only Patisserie we have seen in Bamako. It was quite good though not offering quite the selection I am used to having been to Dakar. It was pleasant sitting inside the air-conditioned comfort and watching the (rather) busy street life go by outside.

I came to the decision that I needed to get an advance on my Visa so we returned to the bank (the only one that will do it, by the way, BDA) where I was directed to go through the door leading behind the tellers. I was at the managers office. I made my way in, explained what I want and how much I wanted and he used a normal Visa authorisation machine to authorise my money. I had to return to a teller to get the actual cash, of course. Interesting that they advanced the money in Euros then paid me in CFA…

We headed off again back to the hotel where I stopped to pick up a rather over-priced avocado for tomorrow. Should be a nice treat on the train.

Today was our day for a bit of sight-seeing. After our first, rather quick and brief trip, we had determined we would see it properly this time. So, Anne and I set out for the museum that turned out to be quite some distance up the road. The nice thing is that the road is quite pleasant and not nearly as busy as the middle of Dakar. The bad thing is that I was offended at the price for the museum (2,500 CFA instead of 500 CFA indicated in the book) so we decided not to go in. A shame really, Chris and Sue later said it was quite good, if a bit small, with some excellently presented displays including some rather nice fabrics. Oh well.

We had also heard about tremendous views being offered by taking a road “just past the zoo” to “Point G” where you could also see some rather old cave paintings as well. This sounded interesting so we headed off down (well, up-hill) the road past the museum then past the zoo with the road not exactly pedestrian-friendly with no pavement (sidewalk) to speak of but a lot of traffic wanting to run you over. It was getting hot as well and we were just about to give up when we spotted the road – well, it had to be the road, it said “Point G” and mentioned something like “tourist route” so it sounded OK. It turned out to be a dirt track that quickly turned into more scrub and grass than track – about 45 minutes later as we continued on ever hopeful we would see the paintings as well as the sights afforded by Point G.

None of it. Well, we had some nice views of Bamako but we gave up on walking along the path (not much of a trail now) and walked straight up a path being used by some local people and, sure enough, came across Point G. Well, no, not really, we came across a transmission station for local television, Point G was another half a mile along the top of the mountain I was standing on – Oh, by myself as Anne had decided (rather wisely I thought) not to kill herself with the climb up to the top. I made it to “Point G” to find that it was the end of a road that had a number of stalls selling things set-up as well as the entrance to a local hospital but not much else. I grabbed a cold drink for myself then a can for Anne and headed back to get her. I was surprised to find her at the top – she had decided to make the ascent a few minutes after I had left and had spent some minutes talking to a man working in the transmitter (lots of television screens though only one on showing a porn channel).

Bamako from (Near) Point G

We headed back down to the trail we had earlier abandoned and decided to abandon it completely and head all the way down on the trail back into the town. The local people had beaten a path from a local bush taxi park up to the top of the hill so we took the trail down to the bush taxis. It was a bit of a treacherous walk down but we made it and wandered through the rather dirty and smelly bush taxi park. Heading along past the sports complex we had admired from above (complete with Olympic-size swimming and diving pools though the diving pool was a bit of a hazard not having any water in it) we relaxed in the shade and helped ourselves to some local oranges while watching the traffic go by. It had been a long walk – it was about 2:30 already and we had left at about 10:30 or 11:00 – four hours of walking!

Back at the hotel (another half hour down the road) we relaxed in the air conditioning then headed out for dinner at about 6:00 deciding to return to the restaurant we had visited a few days ago opposite the train station. It did not seem quite so good tonight though the brochette with chips was not too bad. We bought a few supplies from a small Lebanese shop opposite for the train tomorrow then returned to the hotel where we met Sue and Chris for drinks. Their room in the hotel is quite small in comparison to ours with barely enough room to walk around the bed that dominates it. I am happy we chose to pay a bit extra here – it has been very comfortable.

I have done a bit of laundry for tomorrow as I suspect laundry (or even water) facilities on the train will be somewhat limited. It is also past my bedtime: 10:00!

⇒ Continue to Day 25 - Wednesday, August 11th, 2004


In Bamako, Steve stayed at:

  • Les Cédras, Route de Darsalam - Telephone/Fax: (+223) 222 79 72