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Diary This is Jan's diary. If you want to receive this diary by mail, write your mail on the contact form.
‹ Previous (15/03/2007) MONTH Next (2007-05-14)› ‹ Previous (2007-04-04 - Mauritania) COUNTRY Next (2007-05-03 - Niger)› Mali Middle of nowhere (see on map) 14/04/2007:
In the end we have not had problems when going out from Mauritania nor when entering Mali, simply a little bureaucracy and small incidents, but I suppose that that is normal. About 100 km before arriving at the border, a policeman asked us in a control checkpoint whether we could take him up to the border. I supose it was better not to refuse, anyway it has gone well, because during the road we have maintained an animated conversation and has commented us that was not necessary to give any gift or "cado" to cross the border. So, when an officer of the police has asked me in a small dark room that i had to give him gift, I have said no with safety, informing him about the policeman that we had taken having told us that it would be unnecessary. he seemed confused, but has added that the police and the customs were different bodies. Finally, after accompanying me up to the car, he was convinced that we would not give him anything and called some Senegalese who had arrived on the other side. We have continued through the same good road without being convinced to have crossed the border of Mali, since we had not bought any visa although a policeman with a uniform of a different green had welcomed us Mali. We have continued intrigued while we crossed small villages of round houses made with mud, groups of cows with hump and enormous horns and steppes of high grass and spread trees, some of which I deduced that were baobabs. Finally, after a hundred kilometres we have found the customs. There we have changed money, once the visa has been bought, the insurance of the vehicle bought... and when finishing after a couple of hours we have continued the road. on the road we have been following a French 4/4 that we had greeted on the border. In the next village he has stopped and we have arrived soon after him. I have gone out to talk and the man has told us that he was alone traveling West Africa. We have also explained our plans to him and he has made a gesture of envy. Afterwards he has informed us about him probably sleeping on one of the sides of the road, before arriving to Bamako, since there was no danger. We have told him that also we would probably do the same and like this we have finished, parked among the bushes of the savannah. Bamako (see on map) 15/04/2007:
Today we have started to live the real Africa which waits for us from now. I am writing these lines at 40 degrees out of the selfcaravan (it is already 9 in the night) and 35 degrees inside. Alexandra says that she is dying, but I hold it well, probably because I am drinking much more water than her, it makes me sweat and i cool down. On the other hand, this morning, we have been circulating for a terrible track because they were still building the continuation of the asphaltic track. We were already informed about this track, that's why we have faced it with slowness and patience. But that has not prevented the autacaravan from vibrating alarmingly with the endless rugosity of the road. To avoid the vibrations, sometimes we took parallel paths, with big holes but smoother. Anyway, these paths sometimes finished in a sudden way and we hardly passed them just to return to the "road". After about forty kilometres of track and an hour and a half of driving we have stopped to evaluate the damages: different bottles of water had cracked due to the vibration or to the heat, the deposit of the toilet was moved, there was a drawer that did not open and Alexandra had lost the nerves assuring that with these roads we would not arrive to South afrika. luckyly, after three hours and a total of 80 covered kilometres and the torture of the road has finished, we have eaten in the shadow of a tree and we have followed the road to Bamako. In Bamako we have started to look for parking place to spend the night. A man with T-shirt and tattered trousers wanted to help us and ran in front of the autocaravan showing us different hostels and missions but all the prices were too expensive (close to 10 euro). In one of them we have entertained ourselves a good while waiting if the owner arrived and we could negotiate the price, but it was becoming dark and in the end we decided to search on our account or to go to sleep out of the city. We have paid a dollar and some sunglasses to the man and, despite appearing discontent, he has informed us about being able to park in the parking place of a luxurious hotel. We have gone through one of the streets without asphalt and as we turned to the left we were stoped very severely by a policeman that came to us. he has informed me about being prohibited circulating on that direction and he has asked for my passport and documentation of the car. Evidently they wanted to charge some tip but I didnt want and have informed him about not having money and offered to receive a fine. He has told me that we should go to the police station but I wanted to see the prohibitory signum, because sincerely i had not seen it. We went on his motorcycle but he did not stop on the street where i had turned and he stopped to the following one where yes there was a prohibitory signum. He has told to me: - Do you see? It is prohibited of circulating through the street in the dirrection that you have driven. - Yes, but in the street from where i came there was no sign of prohibition. The policeman surely already knew that, because he has not accompanied me to see whether really there was no signal. Finally, after discussing one more time in the checkpoint, the officer has returned my papers. 19/04/2007:
I do not think that Alex has discovered Bamako. She has stayed good part of the time locked up in the autocaravan, sweating - as me - due to the extenuatoryy temperatures. sHe has discovered a couple of flights to Europe from Bamako, but despite being economic she is convinced that she wants to follow the journey with me. I am waiting for her to become slowly inlove with Africa and to be capable of turning off this stress that tautens when interacting with the continent. for my part its a long time since I let myself to be captivated by Africa and I try to know it with a lot of respect. I have been walking through the streets and markets of Bamako, admiring the chaos of colours, noises and smells, although unfortunately I have no sense of smell to contrast them. Although the city is an immense space - a cobweb of streets and passages - dedicated to a constant market, the rest of the city is full of vendors: of telephone cards (in the same way that in Mauritania), of few fruits, of peanuts, pastes, food cooked in the pavements, of small bags with potable water - or not -, of tobacco, of plastic bags, of clothes, of towels, of rags, of sunglasses, of cds or ribbons of cassette, of money of the money brokers, of stamp pads of office, of journals... Quite a lot of poverty (Mali is the fourth poorest country in the world) is also seen: women with creatures asking for charity, children with small jars asking for gifts, blind old men guided by children... many motorcycles circulate through the sandy streets, also broken cars and luxurious ones and some oxidised green vans that transport up and down asphyxiated passengers that try to breathe taking out the head through the windows without glass. On the other hand, the city, although dirty, is interesting for the great quantity of trees making shadow for the cars and motorcycles parked in disorder. Behind the trees the buildings, some in colonial style but without charisma, of one or two floors and full of simple posters advertising the different businesses. In one of these buildings we went up on some dusty stairs and next continued walking through a passage of loose tiles. We stopped in front of the discoloured poster that indicated "Embassy of Niger in Mali" and we pushed a door that screeched. Inside, we discovered the freshness of the air-conditioning and the cool water offered by the secretary. We expressed our intention for obtaining the visa for Niger and she gave us some forms that we completed and after half an hour an efficient consul who finished of the work arrived. Alexandra, who has few blank pages in the passport, asked him whether he could stick the visa on a page full of stamps of European countries and the consul, without putting any objection, covered the seals with the adhesive of the visa . Afterwards we asked him whether we could carry out the visa of Nigeria from Niger and he agreed with safety. he also assured us that in Bamako there was no embassy of Angola (a country for which can be complicated to obtain the visa). Therefore, we find that in a single morning we had solved all that we thought would take us a week. Even then, we decided to stay till the end of the week, because I wanted to finish discovering the city, we had to work a little with Internet, we had to buy some things (a fan for the heat, some irons to be able to go out of the sand, tropical fruits, waters...), and also we had to met with a girl member of couchsurfing. We met with Melisa in the French Cultural Centre, where we dined and attended an interesting concert. While we dined in the courtyard we enjoyed the comfortable chairs and sofas,and white customers and black waiters so i sort of felt myself transported into the colonial period, especially for the contrast that was breathed outside. Melisa, of Canadian origin, explained us that she worked as a volunteer in the organisation Right to play. I think that Alexandra became more friends with her than i did, I suppose that the occidental presence was a balsam to the thrilling experiences that we were living. After the dinner we went to a concert where a Haitian group called Béloe made the armchairs to be uncomfortable due to the rhythm that induced you. The next days we met again with Melisa in her neighbourhood. In fact we moved the autocaravan near the place where she lived, cause we had to leave the parking place of the hotel where we had camped for three days without paying. We met her again in a economic and tradicional restaurant, on a modern striped painted red and white terrace where we also met some her friends : some marines working at the American embassy, some American girls that flirted with everybody and some white South African workers, with one of which we remained to meet in three or four months when arriving into his country. It has not been until this morning that I have visited in depth the market that extended through a long street and on the adjacent ones. On the previous days I had gotten used to the chaotic atmosphere of Bamako and that has helped me move with confidence among boys and corpulent and tall men that dressed old clothes of European style, in the same way that the girls, voluptuous and with short and plaited hair, walked much more uncovered than in the previous countries. All, of, them, together with older and bigger women and men dressing wide and light clothes, bought or sold in small shutdowns or shops of every type: vegetables, tropical fruits, meat covered with flies, dry fish, drinks, boxes, clothes, mattresses, motorcycles, pieces of junk... The people were nice, from time to time they stopped me trying to sell something or simply to give conversation, wondering what i was searching, asking about my origin or about my opinion about Mali. Anyway, sometimes, when stopping me to do some photo focusing on the market in general or on some scene particularly, some distant and strong voice seemed to protest. So, later, when a voice on my side has screamed "no” I have turned myself and have asked: - why not? - Because then you will return to your country showing that Mali is dirty and poor. - Its not true, Mali is very pretty, look this scene - I have indicated to the man attracting him towards me - it is full of colours, of activity and of cheerful faces. The man has seemed convinced and after taking the photo, started to show interest on me and finally let me take him a photo with his underlying shutdown of clothes. In the afternoon we have directed ourselves to the other point of interest of the city (the first are the markets): the point G, threaded in a mountain from where all the city can be contemplated, half-hidden ofcourse in pollution. It surprises, from outside, the great quantity of trees that cover Bamako and to the background the big river Niger that crosses ignored through the city. Segou (see on map) 21/04/2007:
We have spent a very nice day in Segou. Yesterday at noon we got out of Bamako and reached Segou at dark. We parked in a big levelled area near the river Niger, where on Mondays the market is celebrated, and this morning have gone out to walk through the small town that extend calmly along the river. on the edge of the river there were different women and girls washing clothes, some of them with nothing to cover their bust; some boys fishing with net; and to the background, some canoes with more fishermen. A boy that we had already met with yesterday has asked us if we wanted to visit the other edge of the river or other interesting places in Mali. We have told him that afterwards we would talk and we have followed the hike alone. We have returned through the main street of the town, greeting the calm people thrown out in the shadow of the big trees or of former colonial buildings. When arriving to the autocaravan the same boy approached us again , and a good while after negotiating we have agreed that in the afternoon he would take us to the other side with a canoe and he would guide us in two villages, all this for about 8 euro. It has been difficult to convince Alexandra, but in the end she rose up in the canoe, with a scared face , since she does not know how to swim and she panics thinking that we will sink. After a little while we have arrived to the " campament bozo", a village of nomadic fishermen. As Abdoulaye, our guide, has explained to us the fishermen emigrate from the village for three months each year to catch and sell the fish in different villages along the Niger river. We have entered the village of homes made of mud and others of straw and a group of children came out to receive us . Immediately they have lost the timidity, have taken us by the hands - or fingers, because we did not have enough hands for all the children -, have admired interested our white skin and have started to guide us through the village, greeting womens that prepared the food for the fish and men that fixed nets or prepared fish hooks, nailing bits of soap as food. On the exit of the village I have realised that instead of going to the second village we were turning to Segou . I have told to the guide and he has talked with the boatman and finally has told us that we would go to Segou to look for other tourists and afterwards would return. But in Segou I have lost the track of Abdoulaye and the canoe has not set sail again. I was bothered. I have gone to the guides office, which was empty, and have started to complain to some boys that settled under a tree, telling that i will denounce them to police if i do not solve the problem with Abdoulaye, and so after i made myself clear, I have written all the data of the office in a notebook. They have sent to different couriers to find Abdoulaye that has appeared after two hours, while we were drinking tea with some boys that Alexandra had found. We have gone to the office and after talking with the secretary of the organisation have granted that they would return me about two euros, although they have blamed the boatman for the misunderstanding. At night, the boys that Alexandra met and Abdoulaye have disputed us in order to accompany us to a discotheque, very expensive according to the prices that we were used to but free for our escorts. The music was African, with a changing rhythm that could only be danced in an extravagant way. When the atmosphere has cheered up we have gone out to dance trying to move the body with wide and rapid movements, as everybody else, anyway we left early.turning to the autocaravan we have seen Abdoulaye sleeping on a blanket in the street: he didnt found anybody to guide to the discotheque. Djené (see on map) 23/04/2007:
When going out of Segou in the middle of the multitude of people selling or simply walking, we saw a white man who was hitchhiking,. In these matters Alexandra always has the last word and so she agreed to stop. The man was very thankful and still more for our destinación, Djené, since he explained us on the roaad that he had lost some friends in Bamako and he expected to find them in Djené or Mopti. The man, close to the fiftys , was called Rijaard and was of Dutch origin, although he was not deep-rooted in any place. Thanks to some familys fortune he had spent almost all his life traveling, mainly through Africa. Having explained that to us I asked them hundreds of questions about the different countries that we thought to visit and the recommended itineraries, political situation, or the state of the roads... Later the conversation derived towards religion, since he was a deep connoisseur of the Islam, and of politics. We left Rijaard in the crossroad towards Djené because finally he preferred going towards Mopti. In the crossroad we greet some French people that we had seen the previous night in Segou,and we found them again in the ferry that crossed the Niger (quite dry in that point) and we decided to dine together . While we dined with Benjamin and Marianne, two young and shy professors that were enjoying two weeks of holidays, told us that the day after, Monday, there would not be the market, one of the main appeals of the town, because the president of Mali is coming to make his campain. Today I have woken up early and gone out to walk through Djené while Alexandra was still sleeping. When going out of the autocaravan I have met a smiling boy with tattered clothes that has started to talk to me in English. While I kept following the hike he has explained that he was from Ghana and that he is in mali for one year now, although I have not understood the motives. We have passed in front of the big Mosque, the biggest mud building in the world that has given fame to the town and next we have diverted towards the east, with alleys excavated in the centre, among simple homes of mud and without painting and some Koranic schools. The children sat around a teacher reciting their Koranic plates while the teacher wrote something new for the boys who had already memorised them. When returning, I have already found myself Alexandra awake and the French people and their guide on the point of initiating their hike. We went with them and we have visited the west of the city, where there is a tomb of a young sacrificed girl(she offered according to the people from the village) in the 9th century, cause one local religious leader decided that the village was cursed. When returning to the centre we have found a crowd that was waiting for the president with shouts and slógans. We have isolated a little of the collective hysteria drinking a cool drink in a bar. There I have asked the guide about the poverty in Mali that according to the international organisms is the fourth poorest country in the world. He has commented that he does not think this information is true and that for example, since 1993 there is no hunger in Mali. On the other hand, if they die one of every five children before arriving the five years, is because the families do not take care of them - according to him. Outside, the shouts of the crowd waiting for the president rised, then the guide has commented that if he would be president he would buy a ferrari 4 x 4 and has kept a while dreaming about the idea whyle we were trying to imaginate how is like a ferrary 4/4........ In the afternoon, after the short visit of the president, Djené has returned to the calmness and the shutdowns of the market that had not been able to be celebrated in the morning have been installed. I have walked through the big levelled area in front of the tight mosque . there were women and men buying and selling anything: iron and snails, plastic bottles, pots, big emptied pumpkins, spices, spaguettis cooked , vegetals, dry fish, animals... Sevare (see on map) 26/04/2007:
We have used the hospitality of Willem to become ill. Willem is a Dutch with white hair that for the last few months has transferred his life in Sevare, near Mopti, because apart from being fallen in love with Mali he has two adopted children in the city that are already grown ups now. The home of Willem is simple, fresh and comfortable, with a terrace with a big thatched roof that is quite different from the adjacent homes. We arrived on Tuesday at noon from Djené. It was hot and as there there was no shadow and the sun did burn vertically, Willem suggested us to park in the hospital, created by an Italian company in motif of their 50 anniversary. When returning from the hospital, we met two guests of Willem, Angelica and Sanne, original from New Mexico (IT USES) and respectively Holland. Angélica, despite declaring that she had a pain in the collar and that she didnt feel very well, smiled all the while. Sanne was much more introvert, but when questioning her she started to explain that she worked for the United Nations in Darfur, Sudan. I showed interest in the situation, which despite improving in the last years , seems very complex and a solution is difficult to be found. The day after, both girls left towards Dogon country and we remained to relax in the morning and visit Mopti in the afternoon. But although we relaxed, we did not enjoy it in a complete way because we felt general pains and lack of energy. Anyway, we also visited Mopti in the afternoon, a coastal city in the noisy Niger river, with an attractive and new mosque and with a big market without too much interest. Today we had planned to direct ourselves to Dogon country , but yesterday in the night we went to sleep with fever (Alexandra had 39 degrees) and we decided to continue the day resting in the beds of the house of Willem, who saw that we did not have malaria. But in the afternoon the energies have returned and at night we have already felt capable of going out the day after to discover Dogon Country. --- In home of Willem I interviewed a boy named Hamidou, that thought that the main problem of the world was the Aids. The solution would be in the education of the people to prevent it. The treatment is not the solution because not many people in the world can pay it. The main problem in Mali is the poverty and the lack of water. The solution would be to make more wells for everybody. Hamidou is not completely happy because he does not have the means to be it. If he had more money he would be happier. Therefore, the money is the secret of the happiness: how can people be happy if there is not money to eat, health and the education? Sanga ? País Dogon (see on map) 28/04/2007:
- Po. - O, un sevo. - Sevo. - U manda sevo. - Sevo. - U gini sevo. - Sevo. - O. - U sevo. - Sevo. - U manda sevo. - Sevo. - U gini sevo. - Sevo. - O. (Good day, how you are? And your parents? and The family?) This large and repetitive greeting-conversation that our guide, Aldiouma, recited every time that we met with somebody proves the calmness with which the Dogon live, a tribe famous for living along the falaise , 250 kilometres long and up to 400 meters high. Anyway, Aldiouma has explained to us that the Dogon had not always lived in these lands. About a thousand years ago, another tribe called Telem occupied hundreds of natural caves hidden in the precipices. The reason of living in the caves is that in those times there were lions and other wild animals that could not raise at the heights. But how did the Telem climb the caves and build their homes and also cementeries ? According to Aldiouma, the Telem knew a magical word that allowed them to climb with great agility. When the Dogon arrived, they took in possesion the plains although with the help of the Telem and their magical word they started to bury the dead men in the caves, because like this the wild animals could not access. But the Dogon were a tribe that lived from the crop and the pastures, so that cutting the forest ment destroying the means of subsistence of the Telem, so that after about three centuries they were seen obliged to emigrating towards the south, towards the current Burkina Faso. We had arrived yesterday at midday in Sanga, after circulating for two hours and a half through a terrible track of 45 kilometres that started in Bandiagara. In Sanga we have been negotiating a good while with a guide recommended by Willem, but we finally came to an agreement and left immediately after towards the outskirts of the village where gunpowder and spectacular masks were celebrating a funeral, with small drums, , dances, warlike representations. Next we started to walk towards the falaise that started in a small village named Gogoli. In front we had a fantastic sight, some homes with walls of mud and thatched roof that challenged the giddiness, different tombs and going down there were other homes, ancient ones (homes of the cavemans-telem)located in the middle of the falaise and continuing down, between the rocks and the few trees, other village(Banani) of fragile constructions followed of an infinite steppe, crossed by a big dune. We have started to go down through the precipice, slowly, through a crack that we would not have found for ourselves. Down, we have crossed the calm village passing for the side of a thick piece of cutlery of straw where the elders meet, until we arrived in a simple hotel where we spent the nigh. While we waited for the dinner we have started to converse with the guide about different subjects, but this has seemed to put him on fire when I have asked if the people in Africa or for example in Dogon country are happy. - how can they be happy if many times they do not have what to eat? Whether there is no health or potable water to drink? - he started to answer -, you say that to live with family is a fountain of happiness, but it’s not when it is a duty and we have to share only one room in a small home. You, and many other Europeans, can travel for all the world and know new cultures, but we are obliged to stay here and still have to consider ourselves fortunate if we can work as guides. And you, the tourists, despite knowing all these difficulties still discuss our prices... We have slept in the terrace of the hotel under the light of the moon and the stars and woken up this morning with the first ray of the sun. soon after having breakfast we have started through the steppe that extended infront of the firm falaise, full of the cavemen houses and tombs. After a few kilometres we have arrived to another village (Ireli) were we went up to the foot of the cliff that concealed new tombs . We have rested behind the town hall, a piece of cutlery with a big thatched roof and some showy paints of animals. The sun approached the centre of the sky and the leader has encouraged us to continue, going up among the rocks of the village and afterwards through a hidden fissure. The big rocks seemed to conceal the crossing, but the leader knew where to cross them and we followed him frightful of not falling to the emptiness. Finally we have arrived to the stony plateau, without any tree, almost without water and a suffocating vertical sun which with quite a lot of difficulties let us advance. We have arrived to the hotel where we had put the selfcaravan dragging the boots through the sand, but it has been worthed Douenza (see on map) 29/04/2007: We thought that the parking place in the hotel was included with the hike, besides, after this we had consumed some expensive drinks in the hotel while we recovered. That's why I have become angry when this morning when waking up early the guardian has informed us that we had to pay about 5 €. I have said no and, the guard has then closed the metallic door of the parking place. Even then I have started the selfcaravan and have planted myself in front of the door requiring that he opened it, but the man also screamed that we have to pay him. Finally i saw that the door was not well jammed in the ground and I have started to push it softly with the vehicle until has opened and we have been able to escape. In Douenza we had another contact from Rafa of CCONG and here yes they knew him, because the contact drove a 4/4 given by the ONG. Amidou had a tyre service in the main road, so it was easy to find. After greeting ourselves and present we asked him if we could park the autocaravan under a shadow and very nicely drove us up to the courtyard of his home where there were two big trees. There he introduced us to his family that he accommodated us in chairs of plaited plastic and invited us to some drinks of a next shop. A little later arrived Amadou, the head of the local ONG that managed the donations of CCONG. Amadou seemed an intelligent, responsible and honest person. he started to explain all the actions that CCONG carried out : the construction of a school in Garmi, near Hombori; the construction of a factory-centre of education for youngsters in Hombori; the donation of an ambulance and medicines to the hospital of Hombori; ... Next we comment on the possibilities of development of Mali and comment that this could come of the hand of the tourism although it misses a lot of inversion , because for example it was inconceivable that it takes ten hours -to cover en route 200 kilometres up to Timbuktu. Apart from the heat, this was one of the main motifs that had made us discard the destination. --- I took the pulse of the world with Amadou. He thought that the main problem of the world and also of Mali is the lack of alimentary security. There are too many people who depend on rains that do not arrive. Everybody should make a small effort to solve the problem. His ONG helps teaching how to improve the capacity of the resources. Amadou is happy because he has family and because he can work to sustain them. He would be happier working more to have more resources. Therefore, the secret of the happiness is the work: if you work you can achieve the things that you wish. Hombori (see on map) 01/05/2007:
- When Rafa reaches Hombori is the same holiday as if the president of Mali arrived. - Tonton, the husband of Fanta the professor of the school that CCONG was building in Garmi commented. In the morning we had visited the school of Garmi accompanied by Amadou that directed the construction. The school, erected with taste, was almost completed but in that moment they were deferring, because the water pomp was damaged and they had to bring drums of water from another fountain that was found 5 kilometres away. Next we visited the small village of Garmi, with homes of mud and stone and a few families living in misery. In Hombori, Tonton and Fanta received us with the open arms. "The friends of Rafa are always welcome". Tonton also presented to his other woman, who had married with two years ago, because the first woman, Fanta, had only given birth to girls and he wanted a boy - at the moment the second woman had provided another girl. On the other hand, since Fanta had started to work as a professor, they needed somebody who took care of the girls at noon and the second woman could do this work. It seemed strange, but even if they shared the husband a night each, both women seemed to maintain a good relation: laughing, explaining histories, taking care of the daughters of the other one as their owns... They offered us, simple but good African rice, and we next initiate a very interesting conversation. Tonton works as commune adviser in Hombori and as he knows in a retail way the problems that affect the area. He commented that at present in Hombori and in the villages of the interior there is hunger that provokes malnutrition, tiredness, illnesses and great infant mortality. It seems that one of the problems of the hunger is the little yield of the earth: if in Segou they produce 3,5 tons of millet per hectare, in Hombori they only produce 0,5. According to Tonton, it seems that one of the causes is the lack of water, but the other one is the little rotation of the crops and the few used compounds. Anyway, the earth is worked in the period of rain and at present when the sun is burning the people stay without work. That is why they emigrate during the dry period to the capital or in cote d’ Ivoire but the long-term solution would be to deliver micro loans among the population to initiate businesses of craftsmanship, stockbreeders or trades (this is one of the requests that have done to CCONG). Another problem added to the hunger is the lack of water, and not only to cultivate but also for the human consumption. While we conversed, Tonton commented that it was more than four hours that he had sent his daughter to look for water in the village and she had not returned yet. The well almost does not have water and this if there is it’s getting filled very slowly, so, the women are waiting or they go by night because it’s the time when there is a little more water. After his explanations I have remained without questions and saddened. It has been centuries since the Sahel keeps drieying , formerly it was a prosperous area for the trade and the agriculture but now it can be seen only misery. In the 2004 the area suffered a lethal plague of locusts and Tonton thought that the end of the world had arrived, but I think that the end of the Sahel will be a little longer and more dramatic with the climatic change that starts to act. When the sun gave up to its dominant position and the air was more breathable we went out to walk for Hombori to visit the "home of the youngsters" that CCONG was building and to know the personalities of the village. While we recovered with a cold drink a couple of retired Frenchmen came, Michele and Michelle. they were going over Africa by bicycle (http://tandemichels.spaces.live.com). They thought to rest a while in Gao where had some friends for afterwards follow towards the south, without any plan drawn at the moment. - And how do you make it with the water - I asked them after making three or four gulps of my drink. - We can not buy it, because we would go too full. Therefore we ask the people for it and we filter it afterwards and we purify it. - But in western Sahara how did you made it? They smiled. - Every 130 kilometres there is a telephonic antenna and under it the house of the guardian. It was very nice after every stage to share water, tea and food with them. Today in the afternoon we have continued the conversation with the Michels, after a hot day spent sweting like dogs. Gao (see on map) 02/05/2007:
When this morning we have met the Michels on the road, they already pedalled about 40 kilometres . Even like that, they would not reach Gao in three days. They have given us the contact of Famou and Mahamane, a family of Gao that they were going to visit (pedalling from France!), and we have said goodbye. In Gao we have directed ourselves to the Naval commandament where Mahamane worked and after a while, Famou (his woman), who had already been informed by the Michels that we would arrive, has presented herself . We have camped in the parking place of the Commandament and we have remained to meet eachother again in the afternoon. So we have made use to rest in the autocaravan, to walk through the market and to have a cold drink in a Bar again. Later, as we have discussed, Famou has come to search for us and we have followed her up to her home, a simple construction of mud of two floors. We have rested in two chairs plaited with plastic and we have started to converse openly. We have started to talk about the Michels, that according to her they were crazy about wanting to cross the African continent by bicycle. Afterwards she has commented to us that she is born in Niger, and that at present there are no problems, although maybe yes we will find them in Nigeria, since it is the period of ellctions. It has kept becoming dark and she has informed us that they did not have electricity, because they had different pending receipts and the energy was cut off. Next, she has invited us to dine Yucca (I do not remember whether it is called like this), a legume tasting like the potato, but more fibrous and finally, as we said goodbye, have exclaimed thankful: - After this fantastic evening, I do not find it strange that the Michels come from France by bicycle only to see you. Niger Niamey (see on map) 03/05/2007:
Today it has been the warmest day, and the border officers confirmed it to us, but as we have been all day driving with the air conditioner we have suffocated with the 45º only during the few time that we have had to go out of the car to fill in the papers with the border officers, that by the way, have been very efficient, fast and without asking for gifts. The only negative experience has been in the morning, when after visiting the beautiful mud grave of Askia, we have crossed a police control at the exit of Gao slowly but without-stopping, as we did the same in all Mali, but this time a policeman has made us vigorous signals of stopping. I have entered into the office with all our documents and after analysing them for a while the officer has announced me that i should pay the control 2 euro for not stopping. I have started to laught, but afterwards, looking at the face of sour apples of the policeman i have realised that he was not joking. I have attempted to argue with him but he seemed even more annoyed, authoritarian and despotic. When I started to stare into his eyes he was with the finger threatening me at less than one centimetre of my face and i thought that he was going to hit me.Finnaly i got mad and i screamed that would not give him any gift and that he should return me the passports when i wanted. He screamed behind me to stop, but naturally he was not going to shoot a tourist . He also came behind me to the selfcaravan but when he has seen how i was spitting water while i was drinking and i loomed at the same time he has decided to give back the passports. Another thing is that the road has also been a negative experience, but slowly and with patience we have kept on circulating for the 150 quilometres of bad dirt road without anything passing in the same direction as us or on the oposite direction, only losing 5 hours. Luckily at the border they have been extraordinarily fast and nice and we have been able to arrive in Niamey the same night, having to drive only some 40 kilometres in the absolute darkness. 07/05/2007:
A very good way to fight against the heat and to retrieve energies is to stay a few days in a refreshing de luxe hotel-using its swimming pool. We spent the first night in a camping, an expensive but safe option, since we had arrived by night. But the following day we moved the autocaravan to the shadow in the parking of a luxurious hotel. Every day we paid for using the swimming pool, fact that indirectly gave us the right to park freely in the hotel. During the stay at the swimming pool we met diverse interesting people that were lodged in the Hotel: a Canadian girl who was working as journalist in Ghana and was now in Niger visiting her mother, a Spanish man that was pioneering the formalities for the opening of the new spanish embassy in Niamey and some girls from Madrid who were working for an ONG analysing if the local and international ONGs were working correctly. the girls from Madrid explained to us that even though Niger is the country with the lowest index of human development in all the world, the government does not recognise this fact and this produces loss of resources destinated to the ONGs that work here. In Niamey we met a boy from hospitalityclub, Roland, that invited us to an expats party , where there was music, abundant alcohol and youth with desires to escape. Roland explained us that he was working for a year now with the organisation ONU in Niger but he did not choose to be here, since he prefers another destination, like Asia for example. he explained that the government of the country is very corrupt, although they are making steps to change it, for example imprisoning two ministers, one was the education minister (he pocketed good parts of the money that arrived to the country to build schools.) After three days toasting at the swimming pool, I have today gone out to know Niamey a little. I have taken a shared taxi towards the small market and afterwards towards the big market. The basic difference of both is the size, naturally, but also the location, since in the small market the different open air shopes sell meat, cloths, cleaning produtcs, food, fruits, vegetables... they are mixed, in the big market they however seem grouped by type. The environment in both markets was relaxed and without agglomerations, possibly because it was Monday in the morning. I had read about possible petty thieves, but the only precaution that I took was to avoid that the children surround me. From time to time some salesman picked up my attention calling me"patron" and if in any case i asked them for permission to photograph they let me make it without too many arguments. To the outskirts of the market, Niamey seemed a more developed city in comparation with Bamako, more clean (but not much more), with more paved streets and higher and modern buildings. coming back from the walk and after swimming a while, Alexandra told me : - Hey look at the colour of the sky. I have looked at the reddish colour of the horizon and I have commented: - It seems that the rain is coming. But immediatly after ending the sentence, a strong wind dragging leaves and dust has started to blow. The visibility has been reduced to less than a hundred metres and the sky transformed in an appalling red. We have gone towards the autocaravan , with the eyes half closed by the dust, and after a little it has started to rain. It was good because for a night we have been able to sleep in cool air. 08/05/2007:
Today we were suposed to leave Niamey. The onlt thing that prevented us from leaving was the fact that we needed to obtain the visa to enter Nigeria. When we will have it we will continue towards the south east of Niger ,till the last city from where it is possible to jump in Nigeria. Then we will cross the 500 kilometres that will separate us from Cameroon because we doent want to have problems with the corrupt authorities and dangerous Nigerian inhabitants. We have arrived at the embassy at 10, on a Tuesday, on the date and at the hour that visas are officially given, but the security man briefed us that the ambassador was out and that perhaps he would arrive at 12. We took advantage to go to the centre and then come back later. On the way we have stopped to throw two garbage bags in a dump located between embassys residences. After throwing the bags a boy with a ripped off T-shirt has taken away the bags in a corner, where he has opened them to see if there was something of use. In the centre I have parked beside the Central Bank West Africa , where there is a colony of big bats hanged on the trees. While i made some photos, a guardiaan came informing-me that it was prohibited to make photos without permission. I had already taken the photos that i wanted and have left pretending that i stopped taking photos, and so he has not earned the commun bribe. Towards 12 we came back to the embassy. We were attended by a woman who gave us to complete some forms, but at the end she informed us that the ambassador did not arrive and that we should come back the following day in the morning to search for the visas. Confrunted with the impossibility to abandon Niamey at least until tomorrow, we have gone to visit the Nacional Museum , which really was worthwhile. With one small zoologic garden with incited and sad animals and some pavilions that portray the culture in Niger and the paleontological discoveries that have been made, several bones of dinosaurs and the skull of an extinguished crocodile having a length of 15 metres! Alexandra has been impressed more with the hippopotam that rested beside a swimming pool sweating blood (it was normal according to the guardian). she has started whistle to them and dance, but he continued with his long nap without being affected by the noise that alexandra was creating. Koure (see on map) 09/05/2007:
In the end we have been able to leave Niamey, even though when arriving to the embassy of Nigeria the woman who attended us the previous day has made us wait for an hour and a half until another woman with an authoritarian look and voice has received us. Along the conversation the woman has kept on being softened and even in the end she became nice, explaining that she was the only Christian in the embassy and that it was complicated to make herself respected. Finally, the woman has achieved the authorisation of the consul for our visa and it has only been necessary to wait another hour and half to have it all in order. The afternoon has been much more interesting. We have arrived to Kouré, at few kilometres away from Niamey, where there is a reservation of giraffes, the last ones existing in the western Africa. We have paid the costs for person, vehicle and compulsory guide and have started to penetrate into an arid plain without paths. We have kept on advancing among sand, rocks and some sporadic grass without finding any giraffe. The guide has climbed a watchtower and neither saw anything. We have continued driving while the guide received some calls about knowning or not knowing where the giraffes were - as he has commented us, we were the first tourists of the year in the park. But finally, a lot before we could visualise them, the guide has announced us that he had seen them. They were four, but we have found a group of some ten or fifteen further on. In the park there are not other wild animals, therefore it has been a delight to be able to go down of the car and to stroll among these very high mammals, while they rested, ate, observed us or went away with their calm and elegant walk. Maradi (see on map) 11/05/2007:
Yesterday, the day was grey, and also i would say ugly because the mist switched off the light of the sun and its unbearable heat. We started to circulate towards Maradi for an excellent road that justified the small paid toll, but as we kept on leaving behind arid earth and small villages of mud and granaries of straw, holes started to turn up and we kept on avoiding them like in a slalom. We stopped beside a lake (or sea, as they call it) to have lunch. The place was solitary, but immediately a youngster came without saying anything and leaned on an tree observing us. When leaving , the youngster picked up the reward waiting, some empty bottles and some half rotten vegetables that we had thrown in the sand. As the holes on the road became more frequent, and i even stumbled in one of them, I started to sense that the engine of the car was losing power. I thought that the problem could be caused by the bad quality of the gas oil that i had loaded in the morning, especially because it seemed that it was losing power at intervals. for another hand, I also observed that the pipe issued rather black smoke, fact that indicated a bad combustion, possibly because the air that was arriving to the engine was insufficient. We stopped two times and we opened the engine without observing anything unormal, but when going up on a small hill the car seemed that was going to stop and all of a sudden the button of the temperature of the engine turned into red. I stopped the car immediately and when opening for the third time alexandra observed that the deposit of the refrigerating liquid was completely empty. The engine dripped, but I did not discover from where, even so I loaded water in the tank and, just in case, changed the air filter and followed the road. We stopped another time to load more water, but apart from this it seemed that the power of the engine was like before . We did not want to spend the night in some small village full of anoying children and we decided to camp in the middle of the savannah, behind some trees. I studied different ways of exit in case they wanted to robb us during the night, but nothing happened , with the exception of the fright that we had at dawn when two camels with two men have crossed the savanah behind our car. In the morning I have opened the bonnet with the intention of solving the problem of the water that dripped. There were rests of blue water dried on all the engine, I have thought that the problem could be found and to check it out I have disassembled the fuse box to get access to it. But there has not been luck. I have ended up discovering that the water escaped under the radiator and I have ended up deciding to find a workshop where they can fixed it. Alexandra got angry , saying that everything was my fault, because i wanted to see the giraffes by car and that i go too fast on the bad roads, and that if we brought the car in a workshop they would charge us much more than in Europe in exchange of destroying it even more . We have arrived at Maradi stopping from time to time to fill in the deposit with the refrigerating liquid. In the city we have asked for a workshop and a boy has immediately offered himself to guide us to the open air workshop with his motorbike . I have placed the autocaravan on a hole where a boy and I have gone down to observe the problem better. It has been difficult for me to accept it, but finally I have become convinced that they should take out the radiator and they would have to give it to another man to fix it. I have asked them how much they would charge me for everything, and during the negotiation with the chief I have proposed to pay some 50€. But the chief did not understand what i was offering him until I have understood that it was too much. In any case the price had already been fixed and they have immediately put themselves to work. I kept on controlling cause i did not want them to brake or to take away something and next have accompanied them to the other radiator repair shop . The chief of the radiators has been studying my radiator until he has deduced where was the escapement. With some pliers, he has broken on both ends the small pierced pipe and he has next heated it with a small hammer . The chief has seen my confused face and so he asked me: - Do you like how we work in Africa? - Yes, it is very interesting, in Europe they would probably have changed all the radiator. With the fixed radiator we came back to the autocaravan and the same equipe of four people have put all the car together again. only four hours passed since we had arrived to the workshop (including the half an hour of negotiation and the twenty minutes of the prayers) and they have asked me to turn on the engine. I did it incredulous and have let it turned on expecting the temperature to increase, but no, the radiator has kept steady and not even one drop of water fell down. Zinder (see on map) 12/05/2007:
Yesterday in the evening we met three French cooperants who invited us to have dinner at their house. Then I noticed that in Niger we had not known any local and it is a pity, because they seem very kind and amicable. This morning, on the way out of Maradí we have been talking about how here ,all over the country to be more specific, they say welcome, they greet us with good day and how are you , and if you tell the children that there is no "cadeaux" (gifts) they accept it with a smile. Zinder is a big and very calm city . we went out to stroll in the afternoon in a neighbourhood that was recommended in our guide but we returned to the caravan a little disappointed , even though there were some nice houses painted in lively colours and some nice children that accompanied us all the time. 13/05/2007: The stories of terror that we had listened about Nigeria had made us decide days ago to take the road towards Diffa (in Niger) and from there to enter into Nigeria, in this way we would reduce considerably the kilometres through this uncertain country. We knew that the road to Diffa was in bad shape, but it was worthwhile trying in exchange of avoiding some 600 quilometres in Nigeria. We have awakened early and we have started to circulate for a paved road full of holes. "Patience" - we have thought -, but after some quilometres we have found a police control that has explained us that the road from there was bad, but in 200 kilometres we would find that the road was impassable and that with our car would probably we will touch the ground. We have thought that we would not lose anything in finding it out, but after stumbling in a few holes Alexandra has told me that it would be better to turn and to cross the following day in Nigeria from Zinder. I have paid her attention, after all Alexandra was more worried than i was of Nigeria. We came back to Zinder and took advantage of the day and have decided that we could fix the tap that empties the deposit of dirty water that i had broken some days ago. In a gas station I have asked for a workshop and a boy has told me that he would fix immediately all that we need. I have explained him the problem and he has started to work but without having previously negotiated the price. Another has told me that the problem can be fixed with adesiv but I have told him that we searched a firmer solution . The first boy has disappeared with the drainpipe and after a good while turned up with the pipe and a new assembled tap . They have installed it and i would say that it has come off better than before. But then we have entered into the phase of discussion of the three parts involved (or four, because there was also Alexandra) me, the assembler and the salesman of the tap . It has been a hard negotiation and more than once they have proposed to dismount the price , but in the end we have found a price that made everybody happy, except Alexandra who believed that they had deceived me. ‹ Previous (15/03/2007) MONTH Next (2007-05-14)› ‹ Previous (2007-04-04 - Mauritania) COUNTRY Next (2007-05-03 - Niger)› |
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