Day 4 - Wednesday, July 21st, 2004

We finally made it, Bamako in all of its splendour. Perhaps “splendour” is not the right word. “Squalor” perhaps? At least the portion we are staying in.

It was an early start to the day as I got up at 6:30 to begin packing. The light had come on mid-way through the night so I was able to use the fan for a while making my sleep quite good, thank you. 7:00 we got together for breakfast which we quickly finished then we grabbed our packs and made our way out of the hotel stopping along the way to talk to the owner to whom we mentioned we were going to catch a plane at the airport. I have a long history with this gentleman who has many contacts both on Gorée and in Dakar. He made a series of phone calls to arrange a taxi to meet us at the ferry terminal. We should have asked him last night when we were paying our hotel bill but anyway things worked out well as we found the taxi driver waiting after catching the 8:00 ferry to Dakar.

4,000 CFA got us a quick trip to the airport in a sept-place as he took us on a tour of the outskirts of Dakar, passing along the motorway and through the never-ending traffic there. The plane was scheduled to leave at 12:00 and by the time we arrived at the airport it was too early so we found a bar where we dumped our belongings to wait for a while. Chris and Sue made their way to the luggage reclaim area to investigate the loss of their bags on a flight quite some time ago (people in The Gambia had indicated the bags were lost in Dakar). Of course, they learned here that it was doubtless a problem with The Gambia as the people here had never seen the bags. I took the chance to visit a number of shops on the first floor where I picked up a copy of the English version of the latest National Geographic. I returned to the bar to wait for when we could finally check in.

Eventually we were allowed to queue for the check-in desks where two ladies were chatting away but totally unwilling to check us in until they felt like it. We sat around for a few minutes before they were obliged to remove the rope barring our path and reluctantly allowed us to check in. We chose our seats, put our luggage through then passed through security into the “duty free” area of the airport. Walking around for a few minutes Chris picked up some tobacco though admitted he would have to find something to smoke it in…We sat down for a few minutes to a couple of hands of cards where Anne presented us with a “cheat sheet” for bidding in Bridge. Hum. Should be an interesting few weeks…

Eventually we passed through the final checkpoint to the waiting area for the plane. There were not a lot of people there though over the time we waited a few more did arrive. The plane was actually not that bad, a Fokker F28 (I believe) that we boarded after catching an airport taxi across the tarmac. As we boarded the plane we could see just a small distance down the tarmac a small ceremony was being arranged for the arrival or departure of some dignitary. Well, someone important enough to warrant a red carpet and armed soldiers. Impressive though.

Of course, boarding the plane, everyone chose to ignore the seating assignments and sat wherever they wanted much to my annoyance (why bother assigning seats then?). I have come across this a few times with travel here in West Africa already and every time it does give me a bit of a bother.

River Niger from the Air

Eventually I was able to move from the seat I first found on the aisle to a window that a young girl had vacated as she was “upgraded” to first class (due to seats available there). I was able to get some really good pictures of Dakar and Gorée as we took off – on time, as it would happen. The flight itself was uneventful and actually quite short. Anne joined me shortly after I moved to my window seat and we commented about the views out the window. Sooner than we could have guessed we were flying over a very green and mountainous Mali on our descent into Bamako airport. A few more pictures later and we bumped into a landing in Bamako airport. We had arrived.

Arrival at Bamako Airport

A quick stop for photos of my fellow travellers as they left the plane we headed into the small terminal building. Filling out our landing cards we passed through security relatively uneventfully though after picking up our luggage and passing it through an x-ray machine caused a bit of problems with the vast amounts of luggage that people seem to insist on taking with them. Eventually we were out in the clear air of the Bamako airport car park where we quickly found some shade to hide from the oppressive heat and relax for a few minutes before making our way into the city proper which is a good distance away. Anne took some minutes to check out the facilities on offer in the terminal itself that were rather disappointing: an information kiosk with no information and a few shops, all closed.

We wandered across the car park in search of a taxi which we were promptly offered and boarded. The drive into the city was relatively uneventful though we noted how much better the roads were and how nice the city looked with the surrounding hills and large river over which we crossed. We followed some rather large roads through some roundabouts and eventually were dropped at our rather disappointing destination: Chez Fanta's. This “hotel” was recommended in one of the guidebooks as being something like “cheap, clean and cheerful” but it seems to gone into somewhat of a decline since this had been written. It is located on an unpaved road amongst a number of typical African city houses/stores/restaurants and is the only concrete multi-story (2) building there. Meeting Fanta we were shown a rather spartan room containing four beds and one mosquito net (no fan, no netting on the windows either – scary in an area of the world where Malaria kills how many every year?). It is far from being a palace and yet she is charging 4,000 CFA each! The toilet facilities are also quite…interesting as they are not on the site itself – you must first leave the compound via the back gate then along a narrow alley as you straddle an open sewer to a locked out house which, of course, is simply a pit latrine. At night this walk will be very…interesting.

Chez Fanta's

Discouraged at our surroundings yet anxious to see a bit of this city we had arrived at we relaxed for a few minutes as Chris took a look around. He found a small restaurant across from the “hotel” and also a few places around the corner. Eventually we all headed out into the streets of Bamako. We found a city busy with traffic (both cars and mopeds/motorcycles), pedestrians, and people wanting to sell you something occupying most of the available sidewalk/pavement space. Pollution is a bit problem here with the fact that Bamako is in a bit of a depression air circulation is pretty much non-existent. We made our way down Avenue Du Fleuve (Avenue Modibo Keita), Chris in search of cigarette papers for his recently acquired tobacco and Anne and myself in search of an Internet café so we could inform others that we had arrived. Chris and I braved the street and tried a couple of skewers of meat that were quite tasty (and at 50 CFA each, very cheap also, one wonders what type of meat it was?).

Busy Street in Bamako

Eventually we arrived near to the Pont des Martrys (the bridge across the river) and found a small cultural centre that offered Internet access. Leaving the crowded street we were relieved to find that the centre was in a much quieter area a bit of a distance away. Anne and I went about our “Internet-ing” in the computer room which had all computers facing each other in a ring-shape but, unfortunately, all using French keyboards which do slow down my typing somewhat as I try to figure out where the “@” sign is! Half an hour later we left the air-conditioned comfort of the centre to find Chris and Sue outside chatting to someone they had met on the street.

Bamako Riverside

We headed out onto the bridge walking along the rather unstable concrete slabs that served as pavement (and also, it seems, partly as the road as mopeds tried to run us down on more than one occasion). The sun was just beginning to set and we had some great views of Bamako from the river. The most striking view is that of the bank tower and a few of the fancy hotels along the very green banks on either side. The river itself is tremendously wide – we never did cross to the other side not that there is a lot to really see on the south side of the river here. It actually looks quite pretty with the banks of the river, tall buildings and in the distance the hills surrounding which are surmounted by places such as the presidential palace. Much more tranquil than the bustle of the street behind us as we leaned over the rail.

Returning back to the shore we turned left and walked for a short distance along a busy road running alongside the river. Someone driving by (rather slowly) on a moped lost their glasses which Chris rather heroically retrieved (you should have seen the traffic!) and returned to him. We stopped at a bit of a market selling mostly fish but where we were able to get some deep-fried plantain presented in oil-soaked paper. Interestingly the cost of the plantain was by piece so the lady very carefully counted out the number of pieces we had paid for and gave us some.

We passed by the BCEAO (central bank) building along an unpaved back street where we stopped for a few minutes while Chris talked to a man selling “Fornos” – super efficient charcoal burning cooking devices (more akin to a furnace). He has a bit of a thing with these in The Gambia where he has helped local people make and distribute them. They are much better than the normal braziers used by people to cook with – much more efficient so, therefore, costing a lot less to operate though the initial cost is what stops most people (they are quite expensive). The man in Bamako making them obliged us as I got a picture of Chris standing in front of a tall tower of them.

Continuing down the street we were desperately in need of food so Chris agreed to find a place to eat and, never one to waste time, pointed down the street shouting “there!” It turned out “there” was an Afra shop where we sat down on the ubiquitous plastic-string woven metal framed seats (available in a white assortment of neon colours) and attempted to order food. Of course, the food was available not by quantity but by how much your are willing to spend on it, but not knowing how much “1,000 CFA” would buy, this was quite difficult. Eventually we sorted it out and it arrived on a large piece of brown paper for all of us to share. We had also managed to order drinks (Cokes all around, are the simplest) and some bread which they sent away for (amazing stuff that, a loaf of bread about 3 foot long and quite a good thickness of what we would call in The Gambia as a cross between “tapolapa” and “sen-fu” – it was basically a moderately firm textured bread). The meat (2,000 CFA, in the end) and bread was quite good and we were given hand-held fans to keep the flies at bay as we attempted to eat our way around the gristle. Washing our hands in the water bucket provided by the restaurant we eventually headed back, once again, towards the “hotel”.

Coffee was the order of the day as we stopped at a place just opposite Chez Fanta. As the others ordered their drinks I headed around the corner for more water where I was helped by a young man who both got the water bottles from the cooler and bagged them for me. I was impressed as I returned along the dark mud and puddle riddled street to the café.

Returning to the “hotel” (I continue to not really want to refer to it as a hotel since that would be too kind) we sat around the back patio area just outside of our room (a common area for the whole house as that is where Fanta cooks and does the washing up) and chatted. Eventually we played a couple of hands of Whist (none of us really all too anxious to attempt to sleep any time soon). Chris introduced us to another strange game of cards based upon Whist that took a bit of time to figure out but eventually we gave up and retired for the evening at about 10:00. It is a bit difficult to sleep though as we can hear the rats running around on the tin roof above the patio area and behind the various items left surrounding the floor. I don't like rats.

Tomorrow we shall see what comes (hopefully it is not rats).

⇒ Continue to Part 2 - Ségou and Djenné