Day 25 - Wednesday, August 11th, 2004

Another early day. Another visit to the train station. This makes how many visits early in the morning? How many times must one visit a train station to take a train? Arriving before 7:00 for the planned departure of 9:00 we were told that there was a delay and that the train would be leaving at 19:00 instead! We sighed a bit then headed down the road and sat down for something to eat (omelette and coffee).

Having checked out of the hotel and not being entirely sure about when exactly the train would be leaving (given our track record with catching the damn thing, who can blame us?) there was nothing for it but to find somewhere to wait in the station itself. We headed onto the platform where we made ourselves at home at a rather uncomfortable concrete bench waiting for the non-existent train.

Waiting on Bamako Station Platform

It was raining, of course, making it even more depressing though the lightening is quite spectacular here filling the sky.

Chris was the first to brave the toilets – “Scary” (in a word) and 25 CFA.

At 9:00 the rain had stopped and it cleared a bit so Chris and I decided to visit the market. I had wanted to visit it earlier in our stay in Bamako but Anne had decided against it (I can't blame her, if it was anything like the streets!). We headed down the street alongside the train tracks then headed south into the market area. It was not as busy as normal because of the rain and was quite muddy but there were still some stalls out and operating. Towards the end of our excursion it got VERY busy indeed.

We first stopped by the Artisan market which was a concrete compound with a number of permanent stalls all around the outside and a smaller square building housing additional stalls in the middle. The crafts were quite good with a number of carvings on offer including masks. What most interested me were the Mali fabrics but nothing really “grabbed” me so I moved on. We found a couple of very nice stalls selling Tuareg crafts including the camel leather boxes we had seen in Timbuktu – walls of them. I picked out a few nice ones to take back with me. Very nice indeed and at a much better price, it seems, than in Timbuktu. They are just small boxes, for jewellery, perhaps, covered with a tight-leather covering and slightly tooled with various designs. I have to get some sort of souvenir. I have not really bought anything yet…

Moving on we eventually came to the main market. In the past stall owners had refused to use it because it was too expensive but now it is crawling. We left the bustle of the street and into the dark, rabbit warren of the central part of the market. The outside walls are concrete as are, I am sure, some of the roofs (though there are so many courtyards that seamlessly blend in with the indoors you are often outside without even realising it). It was confusing but Chris and I had a great time just “following our nose” stopping only briefly here and there (which caused someone to instantly appear and ask if we wanted anything).

Walking through I had been looking out for my much-wanted Mali fabric and was disappointed at what I had seen. Stopping at a stall I guess I said something and someone picked up on this and encouraged us to follow him to the “best shop for Mali cloth”. He brought us to this small, narrow shop with a small assortment of items but then beckoned us to follow him through the stall into the back where we entered a very large room with piles of cloths all around and on the walls (along with the inevitable carvings, etc). This was impressive but not as impressive as when he took us into three more rooms most of which the same size, if not bigger – all full of cloths! It was all the same shop too!

The owner started to show us cloth which we figured would take all day but Chris and I spotted some that really looked quite good though the first price offered nearly had us walk away – 65,000 CFA (we thought we had misunderstood his French, but this is what he wanted)! A bit of haggling and side-conversations later I eventually got him down to 15,000 CFA for one then, Chris liking the price, we got another for 10,000 CFA more. 12,500 each, not bad, even for what we can get in The Gambia (which is quite cheap)!

We were happy and headed out of the market (stopping briefly to buy the owner some cigarettes which he had requested as part of the selling price) as we dodged the various puddles and masses of mud everywhere. We picked up some pies that we were assured contained meat but ended up containing hard-boiled eggs (deep fried)? I helped myself to some local frozen juices as we made our way past Chris' choice of final destination: The fetish market. Quite a notorious bit of the market with various parts of animals (long dead and freshly dead) for sale. Warthog's heads, dried (and fresh) birds (whole), dried parts of birds (beaks, wings, legs), dried snakes, dried (and fresh) crocodile heads, dried (and fresh) chameleons, etc, etc. We were surprised to see some live animals for sale as well including some falcons tethered up under one of the stalls. We both shuddered. There were also the more mundane items such as cowry shells and spices but this is not what grabbed our attention as we walked down the street. “Did you see that…?”

Returning to the station it was Anne and Sue's turn to go out so they headed off for a steak sandwich at a place Sue and Chris had found the other day. When they eventually returned Chris and I headed off again this time in search of food as well. We eventually found what we had spotted earlier – liver and onions. We helped ourselves to a sandwich though noticed half-way though that it seemed to be an interesting shade of green in places. Deciding that this was nothing to really worry about we continued eating so if you get this after I have died shortly after writing this, you know why! Helping ourselves to some Attaya (local tea) we returned to the station to wait for the train.

An aborted attempt at playing cards was the best we could muster for entertainment in the afternoon though we did chat a fair amount…And show each other our souvenirs.

The train had arrived late in the morning but was locked up. The whole day we waited around while it was cleaned (!) and serviced (!!). Eventually, seeing no one else waiting on the platform moving, we headed onto the train to find our seats at about 6:00 PM (an hour before we were scheduled to leave). They had conveniently stopped the first class carriage right in front of where we had been sitting.

Waiting to Get on Train in Bamako

The carriage is quite run-down (obviously) with many of the lower windows so cloudy you cannot see out of them and the top part of the window which is supposed to slide down, doesn't slide at all. There are eight seats, two sets of four facing each other, in each of the 7 or 8 cabins along the length of the car with sliding doors on each (non-functional as far as I can tell). Each cabin has storage shelves above the seats and under. The “facilities” at the end of the carriage are simply a toilet that empties directly to the track below and most of the seats are torn. Ominously there have been a few young men on the train selling us torches (flashlights). Perhaps the lights on the train do not work? This turned out to be the case until the locomotive attached to the front – but that was still a LONG way away, it was only 7:00 PM!

Onboard Our Carriage

Chris Waiting for the Train to Leave

As we sat in our carriage waiting for something to happen the train from Kayes arrived on the track beside us and it was fascinating to watch it unloading. People and goods were being thrown out of the window into the hands of people waiting beside the track below (since our train was at the platform). This went on for long after I would have expected the train to have been reasonably emptied and then a bit longer. It was complete chaos, really.

Unloading

A locomotive appeared! We chatted to the driver who stopped beside our cabin (Anne and I are in one cabin, Chris and Sue are down a couple of cabins) who seemed quite happy and greeted us before heading off – never to return!

Chris and I took a bit of a chance and left the train to go grab something to eat at the place Anne and I had frequented across from the train station. We were able to quickly grab some meat pies before quickly returning to the train. We needn't have hurried.

The train boarded very slowly with our cabins the slowest of the whole train (second class was quite different). Early during our stay on board the train a few people had come in and put their bags above our seats. It was only later when the real ticket-holders arrived that we realised that the bags did not belong to them and someone else was trying to use their space! The bags were removed and dumped in the hallway. There is an older lady in our cabin who did not arrive until quite late but before she did, her bags arrived. All 6 (or so) of them. Big bags. They wanted to put them under our seats but Anne and I refused (we need space for our feet). We could not believe it.

All of the cabins eventually filled with the locomotive arriving in the meantime. It was actually a reasonably new locomotive, to our surprise, unlike the cars which seem to be at least 30 years old (and not terribly well maintained) complete with signs all around in various European languages (so, it must come from Europe then…France? Spain? Hard to tell). After a bit of shoving and pushing we were on our way. 11:00 PM. About 14 hours late. As we were leaving the station a number of people jumped on board the train between the cars – I hope they have tickets, damn it, we paid a lot of money for ours!

We passed quickly through the outskirts but then stopped at a small station outside of the city. There the lady with all the bags surprised us by buying about 40-50 mangoes, a couple of kilograms of bitter tomatoes (more like gourds than tomatoes, really), hot peppers, and a number of other items! Where was she going to put them? On someone else's seat, it turned out.

It is very dark in the train with only a single, faint, fluorescent tube in the ceiling and faint light in the corridor. I only hope I do not have to use the toilet in the night-time. Of course, we are going to have to sleep in our seats so I don't think it will be very comfortable – I am not very comfortable just sitting here! There is also not much of a breeze and it is very stuffy as well (central air conditioning or even fan ventilation? You must be kidding!).

It is going to be a long night, but best that I try to get SOME sleep.

Return to The Gambia

⇒ Continue to Day 26 - Thursday, August 12th, 2004