We are in Timbucktu

After driving 11,000km from London, we have made it to Timbucktu. We are on one of the world's slowest connections so apologies for the lack of detail. Yet again it is really hot here - it cools down massively in about two weeks when the rains start. This morning we all got rather grumpy due to dehydration, lack of blood sugar and as we are literally the only tourists in town we are a magnet for every single "guide", hack and rip-off artist in town. After we managed to shake off all the hangers-on, we toured the mosques (all about 14th century but unfortunately can't go in now) and saw some of the historical libraries that are sitting around in family homes here. The town is rather unimpressive compared to Djenne but the history, the challenge of getting here and the views out deep into the Sahara keep it magical.

Journey to Timbucktu

Dogon country - Teli

Dogon country - Djiguibombo

The Dogon country in central Mali is a great place to go hiking, as long as it isn't the single hottest week in one of the hottest countries on the face of the planet. So rather than trekking we took a guide and some friends along in our car to check out the villages. The Dogon country is perched on a stunning escarpment, with former Tellem (pigmy) villages in the cliffs many with burial grounds accessible only with ropes and a scattering of Dogon villages at the top and bottom of the cliffs. The heat (a recurring theme here) was quite extraordinary so after some limited exploration we all collapsed back into the air conditioned car. The Dogon have interesting carvings (especially doors) based on a complex mythology - more available here.

Djenne

We were lucky in Djenne and were able to go into the Mosque which isn't meant to be open to the unbelieving public since an Italian photographer took a few liberties with the place years ago. Fortunately the Imam's son has a taste for the high life and so for a generous fee we got to look around inside. It was beautiful, as well as being a nice escape from the heat

Djenne

The journey from Djenne to Bamako was long but well worth it. The mosque was rebuilt in 1907 out of mud bricks and it is absolutely stunning! We were there on market day so we walked through the absolute craziness in 110 degree heat. Brain sizzling... Bought a blanket from a local co op and met an awesome English couple who decided to join us on our journey all the way up to Tomboctou!! The town was very dusty and the architecture of the houses was primitive yet pristine. All in all it was an amazing day!

We are in Mali

We arrived in Bamako the capital of Mali on Friday evening. Saturday we checked out town, visited the National Museum which has a great collection of West African cultural antiquities and braved a number of the markets.

Sunday we head out to Djenne and Mopti (check out the mosques here and here) before carrying on up the Niger river to Timbuktu. We will also go through the Dogon Country and if it isn't too hot (unlikely) we may go trekking.

Contacting us

We will soon be heading out into the sticks again for a while and our regular cell phone has only erratic network coverage so here are some ways to get in touch with us.

1. Email - this is most reliable but obviously we only check it when we can. ehst76@hotmail.com and rob.mackay@usa.net

2. Comment on this blog. Whenever we check email we also check the comments. Not that many of you actually bother to comment. Anyway just register and then leave comments. It is quite easy.

3. Skype. For those of you who don't know it Skype is an almost free way of making international calls. Go to skype.com, download the free application, put about $10 into an account and it will last you for months. When we are online you can skype our computer and if not you can skype our phones for a tiny fraction of the normal price of a call. Our skype ID is rob.mackay

4. Satellite phone: this will only work when we have it turned on and we are outside and you can't leave voicemails, but it will work everywhere we go. The number is as follows:
calling from the US: 011 8816 3162 1970
calling from the UK: 00 8816 3162 1970

5. Regular cell phone. It won't work everywhere but you can leave messages.
calling from the US: 1 917 403 5877 (its not an international call)
calling from the UK: 001 917 403 5877.

6. Smoke signals: make sure they are really big so we can see them.

Relaxing in Dakar

We are now in Dakar. We are actually in Dakar right now (as opposed to writing this blog entry a couple of weeks after the event) and life is good. We are staying at a nice hotel, with proper loos and a pool. The sun is out (but it isn't as hot as Mauritania), the sky is blue, the ocean is just feet away, we are both healthy and happy, Obama is showing Hillary who is boss and the dollar is bouncing back against sterling so life is very good.

We will chill here a few more days to give us time to get visas for Mali and to get the car serviced, then we may pop into The Gambia before heading inland to Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Our timing is excellent since the Dakar Biennial, a local contemporary art show, kicks off tomorrow. Unsurprisingly Wendy has already managed to meet some local artists and secure an invitation so that will keep us busy.

Across the border into Senegal. A bunch of crooks at the border help themselves to our funds!

A couple of days ago we headed south from Nouakchott to the Senegalese border. Southern Mauritania gradually gets a little greener as one travels south which provides a relief from the desolation of the north. We hit the border in Rosso, a famously corrupt crossing point. Immediately we were surrounded by touts wanting to help us through the formalities, change money, sell us car insurance, ask for the contents of our car and generally find other ways to relieve us of the burden of our worldly possessions. We changed money and bought car insurance there (and got ripped off on both as we hadn't done our research up front) before we headed off along a 90km piste to cross the border at Diama, a much quieter and less corrupt crossing point. This didn't cost us any time since the Rosso frontier point closes from 12pm to 3.30pm for (a nice long) lunch. The route also took us through the wetlands alongside the River Senegal and the Djoudj National Park where we saw lots of birds among the reeds and warthogs regularly crossing the piste. The border crossing at Diama was quick and easy (although quite expensive). The whole day got more expensive when we dropped off someone we had given a lift to in Saint Louis, and a cop pulled us over claiming we had done this in an extremely dangerous place (which was absurd). Anyway after threatening furiously to hang on to our papers and send us back into town to pay a fine at the police station, he said that a small cash payment could ease the situation. It was late in the day, we didn't want to drive after dark and we still had a way to go so we relented and paid our first bribe of the trip. The policeman's fury was replaced by handshakes and broad grins as he insisted he was now my best friend. Its a shame to come across this corruption. While it doesn't really affect us too much, it acts as a huge drain on the local economy when almost every transaction is subject to the same costs and uncertainties and so dramatically holds back many African economies.