Traveling in Mali
Mali in West Africa isn't somewhere that too many people visit which is sad because I found Mali to be a great destination and a good introduction to Africa. While you could travel Mali as a solo female it wouldn't be easy and you would really have to have your whits about you. Not that it is unsafe in general, however ISIS has moved into the north east and is slowly making their way down past Timbuktu (yes that's a real place!). Women aren't treasured in the ISIS community and kidnappings are a very real threat in that area. That said, it is possible to visit a large amount of Mali and overlanding is the ideal way to do it if you are a solo woman. As far as I'm aware
Oasis Overland
is the only company that routinely does it, however I've booked on a
Dragoman
trip for next January for the mid west coast so they may very well start doing the north west after COVID.
I did
Oasis Overland's UK to Cairo trip
from November 2016 which is 42 weeks long. At the time it was about $13,000 AUD but sits at around $16500 now + a local payment (around $4k USD). The price on Tour Radar at present is around $23K
AUD
which equates back to $77 per day. What is worth knowing is that this does not include your visa fees, and not many activities are included either. The west coast there isn't heaps to do, however the east coast you will need to add in the cost for all the Safari's you do that are not included in the trip. It also includes almost no South Africa. I thought it was amazing value for money, especially considering most of your meals are included. Most - not all!
Anyway I digress! Back to Mali itself.
We cross the border from Senegal at Kidira, which is kind of a town but not really. It's pretty small and is really just a border crossing with some services to enable you to eat and drink when you inevitably get stuck for hours working on your paperwork. So we managed to get across the border, which literally is just these little huts with the boom gate across and we are out of Senegal and into Mali.
Once we got into Mali, we started heading down the RN1 highway towards Coulombo, where we bush camped for our first night in Mali. We had a spectacular sunset and the landscape kind of gets more and more kind of sparse, I guess, as we get more and more into Mali. It's flat, flat, flat, and there is a red dirt, not like bright red, more like a sandy color red dirt. There starts to be a lot of scrub and then our second night bush camping was in the middle of these Baobab trees which really felt like Africa.
This one I spotted actually looks like this really weird artwork. It literally looks like this man has been running along and just crashed headfirst into the bottom of the tree. It's pretty cool.
So we kind of pushed on for a couple of nights and into Kayes crossing over the Senegal River which is the first time we've kind of seen it. It was a market day and it was reasonably busy, but unlike what we had left in Senegal the color was much more subdued. In Mauritania, everyone's dress is pretty much a solid color (often black) and then you cross over into Senegal, and it's just this explosion of bright hot pinks and aquas and yellows and it's really cool. Crossing back into Mali things do start to kind of die down again color wise. You still do see the African prints and there still are men on motorbikes with their bright color shirts on, but it's more getting more and more into the monotone colors again.
The river when we cross it it actually looks pretty good. It actually looks pretty clean, there's lots of thick grasses and bushes and I kept looking for a hippo but sadly I didn't see one.
We're heading towards Bamako which is our destination, and it takes us a few days to get there. We come down through the country on the RN1 and then turn onto the RN25 which brings us down to the intersection at Kita. There is a couple of national parks and reserves but on the way into Bamako we were kind of fighting time a little bit so we didn't get to stop. We were actually heading into Bamako to get our Nigerian visas because that was the only place in Africa that was issuing them so we had to get in to Bamako in a bit of a hurry. You never know when that will just stop!
The river when we cross it it actually looks pretty good. It actually looks pretty clean, there's lots of thick grasses and bushes and I kept looking for a hippo but sadly I didn't see one.
We're heading towards Bamako which is our destination, and it takes us a few days to get there. We come down through the country on the RN1 and then turn onto the RN25 which brings us down to the intersection at Kita. There is a couple of national parks and reserves but on the way into Bamako we were kind of fighting time a little bit so we didn't get to stop. We were actually heading into Bamako to get our Nigerian visas because that was the only place in Africa that was issuing them so we had to get in to Bamako in a bit of a hurry. You never know when that will just stop!
Kati Intersection is something to see. It isn't that far out from Bamako (maybe 30km's) but it is the intersection of three major roads and all the little buses and mini vans refuel on the way into Bamako or drop people off to get on smaller vehicled for the drive into or out of the city. There are people everywhere, its really LOUD, it's slow going as there are people and cars pulling in and out all the time but it is really something to see.
Arriving Into Bamako
Coming into Bamako we head over the main bridge and see the Niger River for the first time. Once we get into Bamako we're actually saying at theSleeping Camel which isn't really a campground (it's mostly got rooms), but because we're in the truck they've obviously got an agreement with them for us to stay. Steve backs the truck in (it's a very tight fit) and then directly beside us is this little camping area we can all squeeze our tents onto.
We intend to stay in Bamako for a couple of days, which turns out to be a week. I was desperate to get out to Dejenne, which is this stunning clay brick town, however unfortunately, the Nigerian Embassy just kept saying, "come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow". Or they would tell us "we might need to interview you". And this went on and on and on for days. There was only three people on the truck that we're not going to Nigeria, so they didn't have to come to the embassy. Ugneous one of the Icelandic guys that I became quite good friends with actually managed to get on a bus and get out to Dejenne, which was as amazing as it looked.
How Safe Is Mali?
I'm not sure if you realize but Mali is known to be a relatively dangerous country. When I went into the US after Africa, (and of course I had a Mali stamp in my passport) the border guards were "Mali!, you've been to Mali? What are you doing in Mali?" It didn't stop my US entry but they were a little weird about it for sure.
I really liked it, the countryside was beautiful and quite diverse. I didn't feel it was unsafe in the areas we were in, however you can't relax and just wander aimlessly in Mali without considering what possible consequences there might be.
The north west of the country, actually not that far out past Djenne, is under al-Qaida control and is extremely dangerous for westerners particularly. Al-Qaida is enforcing Sharia law, all women are forced to wear a full Burqa and girls are banned from school. The UN considers Timbuktu area to be its most deadly in the world.
When Ugnius went out to Djenne he said it was just so sad because it is such a beautiful, beautiful town, with all the buildings including a mosque made out of mud. They hadn't seen any tourists for months, maybe years, because of the whole terrorists situation a bit further out. So yes, it can be a challenge, if you stray outside of the main areas.
When Ugnius went out to Djenne he said it was just so sad because it is such a beautiful, beautiful town, with all the buildings including a mosque made out of mud. They hadn't seen any tourists for months, maybe years, because of the whole terrorists situation a bit further out. So yes, it can be a challenge, if you stray outside of the main areas.
There was a situation that the owner of the Sleeping Camel told us about. One of his friends was with I think there might have might have been four guys, who were driving a little way out from Bamako. I can't remember which direction, but they're driving a mini van on their own, and they got pulled over on the side of the road by some kind of bandits. One of them resisted and was immediately shot dead on the side of the road, and the other three were kidnapped. This was a couple of years before and he said he knew they were alive, everyone knew they're alive, but what condition they were in was not known. One of them was French, and they expected him to be released very soon. The other two were American, and that was proving more challenging, because obviously, as you know, the Americans don't negotiate with terrorists. The government however were very much helping the family behind the scenes, to try and get their son back.
So it is very real.
I never felt in danger at any point in Bamako from anyone being aggressive towards me or anything like that. Most of the time, I was with a couple of other people and the times that I was on my own I'm pretty tall and I don't look like I'm easy to be messed with. I did stay very much within the really busy area in the city.
Anyway, Apart from that, I really liked Mali. It was really beautiful when we headed out of Bamako toward Guinea. We were really lucky because on the way out from Bamako, there's an area called Sibi, which is these really crazy kind of rock formations and places where you can hike and climb and Steve very kindly stopped the truck for a few hours and we all got out and hiked and climbed up the rocks. I negotiated with the local ladies for bananas and eggs and all sorts of stuff which was really fun. The border crossing into Guinea was actually really interesting, like so many are, in Africa.
Would I recommend Mali?
If you're not overlanding, the only way to get in and out, is probably to fly in and out of Bamako, I have no idea what the airport is or what those kind of conditions are.
Honestly there's not a lot in Mali. Bamako has this really cool kind of little museum complex, which has got some really nice national treasures and things like that & some really cool funky artwork. Obviously there's the river, you can go out on a little boat on the river to watch the sunset and there are some big markets. The markets have everything you can buy. Anything from anti-biotics to sarongs, to pig's ears, to fetish items, to whatever you want. It's really cool but it's really busy .
So there's not a lot in Bamako to see or to do, but if you are overlanding there's quite a wide variety of landscapes and I actually really liked it. So if you were looking at going through Africa and you're overlanding, yeah I would say Mali's worth doing.
Photos From Mali
My Favorite Photo From Mali
I took this one on the river during a sunset boat trip. I just love it. It's nothing special but I remember how quiet it was just as the sun was going down and the only really big building in Mali looks amazing with the light.
This post first appeared on Charge The Globe | Adventure Travel, please read the originial post: here
