See how we have rerouted from the original plan:
From Senegal, where we spent Christmas and New Years, we crossed into Mali and spent 10 days Bamako. We stayed there for so long because we were were waiting for Nigerian visas which, in the end, were impossible to get in Bamako. While I was there, I went to two museums, listened to live music, went shopping in the markets, went to church, got yummy street food, wandered around the city and had some good relaxing time. We stayed at a lovely place called The Sleeping Camel, a hotel/campsite run by former overlanders, and met some great people. I definitely recommend it.
A boat in the museum
Museum artifact
I enjoyed Bamako, but after spending almost a week in one place, it got tedious. So Jenny and I left to go to Ségou, a town north-east of Bamako. And there our adventure began.
It being Sunday, we first went to a Christian church service nearby that a lady had invited Jenny to while they were both crossing the street. Everybody there was so welcoming and kind. There was dancing and singing, all of which was in French or the local language, a greeting session, a sermon, communion, tithe, and then more singing and dancing. I loved the sound of only people's voices and drums. I sang the French songs out of a booklet and clapped my way through the ones in I had no hope of understanding. The sermon was about following God's plan for your life (in French, "grand rêve" literally "big dream"). Since it was in French, one man kindly translated for us. But it was nice to know I understood a lot of the French.
After church, we took local transport to the bus station to buy bus tickets to Ségou. We were hassled by guys wanted us to go to their company and a fight almost broke out between them. Jenny and I managed to slip away.
Our plan was to get there by dinner time. We found a bus that was supposedly meant to leave at 1 o'clock. But as we are now on African time, we left around 3:30. And the three hour bus ride actually took around five. The bus was filled with locals and really well behaved babies. Every so often it would go from calm and driving to stopped on the side of the road and vendors would come on and chaos would ensue. Selling water, fruit (I bought some yummy papaya), sandwiches, bread, muffins, and frozen juice. The people make a living off the truck stops so they were super motivated. After 5 minutes, the vendors pile off and we started driving in silence again. We arrived in Ségou just after 8pm. The heat had taken away any appetite so we set about finding our place to sleep.
Jenny and I ended up sleeping in a Catholic mission recommended by the Rough Guide. The hostel dorms we stayed in cost us only 4 USD each (and we had the whole dorm to ourselves too!) The whole place looked old like a castle.
After a nun showed us to the dorms and gave us the key, we got situated, talked to two French couples and went back to the room. We closed the door somehow the door got locked/jammed and we couldn't get out. We were locked in a Catholic Mission! After a good 20 minutes of trying our best to open the door, Jenny called the number in the guide book and, in her best French, tries to explain we were calling from inside the dorm, we were stuck, and could they come and let us out? Its a good story now but pretty embarrassing then when we were rescued.
That horrible door
Jenny and the door
Dorm
Catholic Mission grounds
Entry gate
We left the next day and went into the main part of town. It was nice to have a relaxed change of scenery to the hustle and bustle of Bamako. We had breakfast and walked along the Niger River and throughout the markets. We left to go back by bus to Bamako later in the afternoon and got back to the Sleeping Camel by 7:00pm, tired but happy for our adventure. Aaahh, home sweet camel :)
- Sent from Africa using my iPad
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