Bamako, Mali

Bamako, the capital of Mali feels like one very big market located on the Niger river.  We stayed across the river from the city centre at a great campsite with hot water showers and WiFi and we had 3 pet rabbits wandering around.

The main centre of Bamako is mental and I found our visit there a bit frustrating.  The grande mosque is in a centre square with some fetish markets which are the main tourist attraction.  Stalls are set up with animal skins, petrified hyaena heads, stacks of bones and other animal related left over's all to be used for alternative medicine.  There was a lot of hassle in this area by touts due to the complete lack of tourists and the nearby craft market.  We wanted a general look around the area including the local markets and it was hard to shake them off until you end up at the craft markets.  They didn't seem to understand that we were interested in looking at other stuff and that buying souvenirs wasn't the priority of the visit.  One even saw us looking at the mosque and said that it wasn't the market, it was an area of prayer.  I thought the massive minerets sort of gave it away myself!

Having lost our local company after giving us no chance to even look at stuff, Tyson and I wandered through the local markets past stacks of fabrics, shoes and even animals.  We ended up in the more residential area of town where lots of weddings were happening.  People just seem to put up a tent in the street and have a massive party.  We probably saw at least 20 parties which were very colourful and attended mainly by women.  The music was interesting as it was often a couple of ladies singing/shouting over some dodgy music or drumming.  One of the drums was made from a ball sitting in a bucket of water.  The highlight of the day was seeing a huge sheep getting a wash.  A teenage boy was sat on this sheep's back with a scrubbing brush and a bar of soap!

How long we would stay in Bamako would depend on the rest of the group's success in getting a Nigerian visa.  We spent 3 nights in camp before leaving as they weren't successful as the ambassador wasn't home.  It was nice to have some lazy time but I was glad to leave.  Next stop Cote d'Ivoire.