Days 41 to 58 - Weeks 7 to 9 (14th December 2006 to 1st January 2007)
Leaving Mauritania behind us – we were somewhat glad only for the fact that we had passed through more than 50 police stops, on our way through all the many road side towns and villages in the last couple of days. On entering one of the poorest countries in the world – we had no problems at the border. The instant friendliness and greetings were exciting to us all. Huge smiles and arms waving, we started the arduous drive to Bamako. Rough, red, corrugated roads for most of the journey, with huge road works in progress funded by many EU countries.
At a late departure from one of these BC – we met a local man and his donkey cart. He stopped by our camp, and started gesturing something to us – of which we did not understand. At first some of us thought that we may have pissed him off for lighting a fire or using the land – but then he proceeded to dig out a tree stump with his axe that was balanced on his shoulder and offered it to our fire. A gesture like this, given in kindness and nothing asked for in return – it all made us feel a bit dumb struck – really cool. Our thanks back to the kind old man was with a taste of our freshly made pancakes – enjoyed thoroughly (by the wide smile of our new friend) Probably a taste he had never experienced before – but an experience that he will most probably remember just as much as us.
Our last BC saw the birth of "Club a la Plage" – a makeshift back of the truck club that would be a feature of many Saturday night BC on the road. Laser and head torches were commissioned into strobe light mode, hip and sultry tunes were given a go on the old back of the truck stereo – very very unexpected and unique partying – along with the slip and slide outcome of having so many half naked sweaty bodies all bumping and grinding together. Definitely not the night to catch up on some sleep.
Bamako saw us camped up overlooking the Niger River, with plenty of local day to day life going on outside. Meeting up with our Senegal explorers signalled that the family was nearly back together again. Everyone seemed to have a good time – spending more than their fare share of pocket money – especially as most of them had to eventually fly from Dakar to Bamako due to the train no longer running. This was to the disgust of Josh who felt somewhat responsible for everyone's misfortune, as it was a Canadian company who had supposedly taken over the contract !!! Say no more – bloody colonials !!
Our 1st night in the capital saw most of the group go out for a local taste of Malian music. A different style of music and club to "Club a la Plage" – but electric and full of atmosphere as we expected.
The lively and hectic atmosphere of Bamako was a lot to get used to in one hit. Very busy and chaotic, but with its own genuine charm as well. Especially interesting for some was discovering the fetish and voodoo sections of the markets – a unique and common practise still in these parts and countries further south. Some of the guys took a local pinasse / dugout canoe to neighbouring islands where they had the chance to see local life and also some crocodiles that the villagers had acquired.
As in Mauritania – we haven't yet had the need to visit a conventional bank as we know it. All money exchange in a lot of countries thrives on what is known as the parallel / black market. Most Bureaus or money changers give a better rate than the banks – which helps with our budget conscious travel in mind. Brick sized stacks of money are not uncommon sights as most of these countries only have small denomination notes. In some you are actually classed as a millionaire – it doesn't matter that your cache of bills only realistically accounts for a couple of bucks – it all makes for a good photo and story. The wads of cash are so big sometimes that you receive a complimentary black plastic bag to try and stow your cash and not make it so obvious – a hard task.
Some good luck for us with getting our Nigerian Visas issued easily in Bamako – rather than having to wait till Ghana – where our only priority for there was heading to the coast and its clear cool waters. On a down side – Bamako saw bad luck find some members of the group as well. Rearing its ugly head for the 1st time on the trip – the negative aspect of travel theft was experienced by some of us. Luckily most incidents were minor replaceable losses but our major loss was some of Hans belongings on the train he was on whilst getting to Bamako. Opportunistic kids got hold of his bag which was carrying his passport and other valuables. This was definitely a learning curve for most of us – unfortunately it sometimes does take a bad experience to learn a lesson or get a certain message across. We were happy that no violence was experienced in anyway – a plus in everyone's books. Once again we had to say "See you later" (not goodbye) to Han as he was advised to stay in Bamako to try and sort out a new passport and other details. We were hoping to meet him again in Cameroon – as it was looking likely that he would have to return back to Korea to get a new passport issued as it could not be sorted in Mali.
The next couple of weeks was taken up with planning Xmas and New Years festivities. Our route from Bamako was heading through the Niger Delta region of Mali, stopping off in Mopti to pick up last minute supplies before heading to the once remote desert town of Timbuktu – where we would celebrate XMAS. Other than being a disputed region of the local Tuareg Nomads – Timbuktu was once on the old caravan trading routes through Sub Saharan Africa. More accessible by road today and also by Pinasse riverboat – it is by no means the easiest place to get to though. Our journey of two days driving, hardly saw us use the supposed road that has been carved out. More corregated and potholed than anything we had encountered yet – we spent most of the time taking parallel side sand tracks. Sports Bras and supportive underpants are definitely a recommendation – or your detachables may turn a nice shade of blue and purple with bruising!!!!
Our Xmas campsite was as basic as it came – but it didn't detract from our Xmas energy and the want to celebrate in style. Nothing was spared and what ever we couldn't find on the road was provided by Santa (he packed us a lot of goodies in the truck whilst he was preparing his chores in the UK !!!) From Xmas Trees, Secret Santa gifts, Crackers, Mince Pies, Pudding, Goodie Bags filled with Chocolates and sweets (we hadn't tasted for a while) – all was great. The truck was festively decorated with tinsel and spray on snow – even Santa himself found time to track us down in the blazing sun – still fully suited and booted in Xmas red and carrying sacks of gifts for everyone to open. Amazingly the resemblance to our John was uncanny and Santas pocket sized elf helper (with pointy elf ears and all) looked very much like Shua – but we all knew that that was absurd !!!The sun must have got to all of us – or maybe too many afternoon drinkies (or not enough??) The only bad thing that came out of Xmas was that the makeshift Mistletoe stuck on the cooking light didn't get used to its full potential. Meanwhile – we were all secretly waiting till New Years when Audrey had promised to snog everyone on the truck. Supposedly that's what they do in Scotland !!! Bring it on.
Hope you all liked some of our random calls home. Not the best service from Timbuktu – but we all tried to get hold of you – promise we weren't having too much fun to think of you all – promise !!!! From classic fry up, to Scooby snacks through the day, to the veritable feast at dinner – we made it through another stomach stretching Xmas. And not forgetting the "fly by the seat of her pants" visit of our overlanding loving Queen Elizabeth – to dutifully address her honorary overlanding subjects with her inaugural Queens Speech – patriotically received and delivered in proxi by no other than the young "Plum in his throat" – Danny. Very very funny to say the least – a great day and one to remember.
With Xmas over and out – we could put all our energy into the festivities for the coming of Year 2007. "Club a la Plage" would be re-opened for the celebrations – making our aim for NYE to be BC in the middle of nowhere, in order to cause as much of a ruckus as we like.
Our visit to the Bandiagara Escarpment and the Dogon area of Mali fell in between our celebratory season, and was a highlight of most of the group. Actually trekking from village to village through Dogon country was something that a lot of us were looking forward to – after being on the truck for so long it was nice to get and do some exercise. We spent 2n + 3days in the area, sleeping on mud brick roofs overlooking local dogon villages and mud/wood mosques. Awoken in the morning by the activity outside – you could peer over the side ledge to see local women pounding millet, donkeys getting ready for their days work, children going to fetch water from the local well.
But we have to say that one of the highlights (and late Xmas presents from Santa) for a lot of us was the surprise return of Han!!!! Uncanny in his arrival as we were having dinner – all smiley happy. Even though we had been out of email contact for the last week – he had tracked us down at our camp (with the help from the office) and had a new temporary passport in his hot little hands. With only 6 pages to his name – we would need to stop any happy go lucky border officials brandishing border stamps using any unnecessary pages – as who knows where the next replacement can be obtained. All in all – it was agreed that even with all of his bad luck and misfortune – Han was probably the one out of all of us having the most raw and realistic African experiences – ready to tackle any obstacle with 100% determination. And always with a smile, and mostly with not so much as a bad word to say. If it was anyone else needing to replace a passport or any other document out here – it would be so much easier rather than being from a not so well represented or travelled nation such as South Korea. Challenge after challenge – our man Han is still as high spirited and energetic as ever.
On the downside of leaving the Bandiagara area of Mali – we also were leaving behind our fare weathered overlanding ring-in – Puppy. We had left her comfortably in a tree back at camp whilst we went trekking (with what we thought was a suitable anti escape from the tree housing her) but she has made Mali her forever home – hopefully a happy one ? Farewell Puppy – you will be missed (by some of us at least)
Finding our NYE BC was possibly the most long winded affair in the existence of overlanding. After 3 + hrs of driving around fields and scrub looking for a suitable BC – we managed to find one away from evidence of other forms of life or villages. Every other BC opportunity that we found and liked would not last long – with people and villages popping out of the bushes all over the place. A tyre blow out on our "find a BC" mission of missions was the last straw – and poor Brenda was at his last tether by this stage. Luckily we had already organized two pigs to be prepared for us whilst in the Dogon country – all ready and waiting for our gluttonous advances at the dinner table.
Whilst dinner was being prepared – the girlies donned their NYE frocks and face paint – making it the BC to be at. Even dress up was forced on the poor crew (Brenda secretly loving wearing his Belly Dancing outfit that he received from his secret santa / Jeff having various pieces of clothing donated by some of the female members of the group. Using oranges to fill in the gaps in Beccie's Bra and loving the fact that he could hitch up Lisa's skirt without getting a slap was a personal highlight !!!)
Midnight came and went and the snogathon promised by Audrey ended up being sloppy wet pecks on the cheek – better luck next year I suppose ??
New Years Day was a late starter for most – making use of a sleep in before heading to Djenne – the biggest mud brick structure in the world and making it a world heritage sight in its own right. After searching long and hard for the NYE BC – we decided to head back and make use of the infamous BC we had found the night before. Welcome to 2007 – Good Luck and prosperity to all of you from Africa. Hope your enjoying the time with so far ?
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