Senegal - Mali

Update - February 10th 2013 - Bamako, Mali

We left Dakar on Feb 6th. Getting out of the city was slow, like most big cities in Africa so far, only one road used by mopeds, donkey-carriages, mini-buses that stop every 50 meters, market stalls on the side of the road and the usual police stop.

In two days we made it to Hotel Wassadou on the Gambia river.

Here was our first lodge.

Reception of our 5* lodge



Top heavy, peanuts all over the road

Hotel Wassadou is a nice place but a little crowded as it was full with Eastern Europeans that participated in the rally Budapest-Bamako (They actually changed the finish place to Bissau but did not have time to change the stickers on their cars). We spent the afternoon lazing around and watch the many birds on the banks of the river.

We could camp at the hotel on the condition of having dinner. Since we heard dinner was very good and the temperature was getting into the high thirties (nineties for our American friends) we did not mind. However the hotel was clearly not prepared for such a big dinner party. Dinner was going to be at 6.30, then 7, 8 and we finally got our food at 9pm. For some people there was a nice piece of beef, the rest of us had to be happy with a piece of chicken and rice (it was still good)

The ultimate proof of bad dinner planning was when the waiters came around to collect left over bread from the bread baskets on our tables to fill a new breadbasket for some late arrivals. It was all pretty hilarious.

The next day we started pretty early to see whether we could make it to the border before dark. The first part of the road through Niokolo Koba National park was pretty bad at times so we did not go so fast.

Laundry day

Unfortunately except for some monkeys, warthogs and birds we did not see any other wildlife on the 100km through the park. Based on what we saw and on what we have heard from other travelers who visited the park we are afraid that not much wildlife is left.

Border crossing
After we left the park area the road improved significantly and we made it to the border around 3.30pm. By 4.10pm we had cleared both the Senegal and the Mali border. So no corrupt official stories. All the people were super friendly and most of the time was spent writing down our information in big books by the police, gendarmerie and customs. The custom papers could not be done at the border and they told us to go to the next town, Kenieba and visit the custom office there. We really tried, we drove to the town, asked for the custom office but still could not find it. We decided to forget about it and take our chances when we get stopped or when we want to leave Mali. So far the people have been so friendly and easy going that we just don’t expect any problems. It is also hard to believe this country is fighting a war, but then we heard that there is really two Mali’s, the south and the north. Unfortunately most of the sights are in the north and off limits right now.

After Kenieba we looked for a place to camp. We ended up taking a small dirt road off the main road and pulled into the local soccer field with a wonderful view.

Camping in the penalty box off the local soccer team

Lots of people passed by but only one guy came to talk to us. If we had been in any of the previous countries we would have had tons of people come by to ask for a cadeau, money or just come and stare at us.

Later in the afternoon some kids came by and Rosana took some pictures of them and printed them right away with a small Polaroid printer we have with us. The kids were very happy with it.

The following day we drove all the way to Bamako. The roads are very good here in Mali. We are staying at a hotel near the Niger river and are taking a day off driving to do some maintenance on the car (well all the maintenance Marc is capable of, which is just adding oil in some holes he finds near the engine and axles), adding mosquito screens to the windows (Rosana’s task) and getting the car washed (outsourced it)

And we get stopped and asked whether we carry a fire-extinguisher

It is good that we took the day off as one of the hub fill plugs broke. We did not have spare ones with us, so Marc went on the back of motor cycle with a guy from the hotel to the market to find a fill plug. The guy must have thought that he was on a race track or so, he drove sooooo fast and cut between so many cars, buses and other motor cyclists that Marc thought he was going to lose a leg or arm. In the end they found a small shop that had a plug that would fit, not an original Mercedes plug but it seems to do the job. We will order some spare plugs and have it shipped to Burkina Faso so next time when it happens in the middle of nowhere we can still continue our trip.

Tomorrow we will be heading to the border with Burkina Faso.