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Archive for the ‘General’ CategoryNow there are so many blog posts in this category, I’ve decided to index them for you, to make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for. Here you go: (1) Eating out
Enjoy a curry at the ‘Namastae India’ restaurant. A great choice of tasty meals at the ‘Broadway Café.’ Over 30 flavours of icecream at “Icecream”. Tasty snacks and good prices at Le Nid. (2) Days out (in the city)
Climb the ‘Africa Tower’ (Tour d’Afrique). Visit the Luna Park (at your own risk!!) Take a boat trip on the Niger River. The Parc National du Mali – a lovely place to visit! Ten Pin Bowling at the Byblos! Visit the ‘Jardin du Cinquantenaire’ (NB Won’t take long!) (3) Days out (near the city)
Have a picnic on a rock near the Segou Road. The monument of a man on a horse. “Waspy Waterfall” a few miles out of town (flows best from August – October). Another relazing walk by the canal. (4) Shopping:
It’s been a good – and busy – year, with plenty of travelling! Here are fourteen highlights from the year – just click on the titles below to see the posts: (i) Rob does research in Bozo country (including a 19 hour trip on the Niger river, on the roof of a boat which broke down four times in the middle of the night). (ii) Song-writing workshop in Dogon Country. (iii) Seeing a troop of wild baboons running across the road in Western Mali. (iv) Bamako gets an 8 lane bowling alley! (vi) Teaching ‘Music and the Arts’ in Jos, Nigeria. (viii) Finding a white Hummer stretch limousine in Bamako (why, I mean, why?!?) (ix) Bamako gets its first decent icecream parlour. (xi) Vacation in the Gambia (3 days’ drive each way!) (xii) Bamako gets a third brige (almost a mile long!) (xiii) Rob attends and teaches on the Arts in Missions conference in the UK. (xiv) Chilling out at the Hotel Woloni in Selingué. (xv) Conducting “Handel’s Messiah” in Bamako Cathedral (December). No post, but here’s a picture for you:
Well, belated Merry Christmas to all my readers and all the best for 2012! Have a couple of days break chilling out at the Hotel Woloni in Selingué:
It’s less than two hours’ drive from Bamako in a quiet location by the lake. You can play pétanque, go for a stroll, have a swim in the lake or take a boat trip (usually). And if you don’t want to swim in the lake itself, there’s always the nice L-shaped swimming pool on site too:
The hotel’s restaurant serves good food, but it a tad pricey. It is on stilts at the edge of the lake. Well, I say in the lake but it does rather depend on what time of the year you go there. It’s only really from October to December that you’re likely to find the water up that high; other times and the lake is still there, just a few metres walk away! Here it is:
Now, because the restaurant is a little pricey, we tend to take our own food (to which nobody seems to object) and/or eat at the Senegalese Restaurant just the other side of the dam (which does tasty meals from around 1500cfa). You could also try the Campement Yaala over the dam, which also has decent enough accomodation (but is further from the lake and a bit more basic). The rooms themselves – like so many other tourist resorts in Africa – are made to resemble round huts with straw roofs. Nice and big though, with ensuite loo and shower! There is also air-con if you need it. They have one double bed in, but you can pay a little extra for them to add an extra single. We then take along two camp beds for the rest of our kids and there’s enough space to fit them all into the one hut! Have a butcher’s:
Here’s an arial view of the Hotel Woloni – you can see the restaurant by the lake near the bottom of the picture and the pool near the top: And here’s a wider view showing the Selingue dam (the hotel is in the bottom left corner): Finally, click here for another anglophone report on the place (short but sweet) and then here and here for a couple of opinions in French. Now, go and enjoy a relaxing sunset like this one!
Have a nice snack at ‘Le Nid’ in Torokorobougou!
Yes, this recently-opened place is air-conditioned and has good food and good service. Even the prices are reasonable! A chwarma costs around 1000cfa, burgers maybe 1500. I like the ‘Salade Africaine’ (which we’ve had several times without getting sick) – for just 750cfa (that’s one English pound!!) you get lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumber and egg! Bargain! But it’s a breakfast time that I like Le Nid most of all: great pastries and cakes and the best café au lait in town (according to Rob Baker).
‘Le Nid’ means ‘The Nest’ – hence the light brown nest-like design on the walls inside. To get there, take the New Bridge (not the New, New Bridge) from town and exit as soon as you’re over. Turn right and Le Nid is about 300yds down on the right hand side. NB There is also a ‘Nid’ in town near the start of the Route de Koulikoro. Never been (as this one is closer) but it looks almost identical from the outside and (I imagine) does the same kind of food. So, what are you waiting for? Le Nid is a handy, friendly place (with slightly whacky interior decor) to chill out and watch the news on one of their two flat-screen tellys!
Well…very, very big!
Some projections of world maps (particularly the Marcator) make Africa look smaller than Greenland, even though it’s around 14 times larger. That’s why I prefer the Peters Projection (even though it looks a bit squished!) Then there was also this map, suggesting how much of the world views Africa (blogged about here)
And if you think Africa is nothing but poverty, warfare and sickness, think again. Of course, these exist, but let’s also celebrate what is a vibrant continent with wonderful people, breath-taking landscapes, fascinating cultures and exciting wildlife! Hooray for Africa!
Yes, after two and a half years’ work, the New, New Bridge is finally open, just to the east of Bamako city!
Woohoo! Here’s hoping it will ease up the traffic in town, which is often quite bad during rush hour (see this post for an example). It was a gift from China to Mali and, apparently, cost over 60,000,000 US Dollars! For photos of the construction work in action, click here or here. It was officially opened last Thursday (22nd September), the day of Mali’s 51st anniversary of independance. Click here and here to see the inauguration ceremony. Here’s a picture I took of the 1.6 kilometre long structure a couple of months ago. Impressive (but it does have a bit of a bend to it!)
Finally, enjoy this YouTube video I made of our first ever crossing of the bridge (NB to save time/bandwidth, I sped up most of the video – I didn’t actually drive at that speed!) Thanks for reading/watching! …but you CAN get in the Gambia! On a recent visit to the Gambia, we were delighted to find that, not only were the supermarkets there cheaper than in Mali, but also they stocked many British products we just cannot get here. So, as well as 8 kilos of cheese (gouda, edam and cheddar) which was around 40% of the Bamako price, we also brought the following back with us:
Cadbury’s Drinking Chocolate (yum!), Bombay Mix, Barr’s “Irn Bru” (‘made in Scotland from girders’) Heinz Baked Beans, Vimto cordial, Tetley’s Tea Taco Shells, Mushy Peas (double yum!), Doctor Pepper (made in England, not the US) Marmite (triple yuk, but Lois loves it), Bisto gravy granuals, Weetabix Minis. Lyle’s Golden Syrup (wow!), Draught Guinness in a can (to be sure!) and A scary but self-explanitory road sign in Dogon Country:
Okay, okay. I’ve got the message! I’ll go slow round the corners when driving down the Dogon Cliffs. Promise! Beads for sale at the bead market, Bamako, Mali:
Have a relaxing walk by the canal (no.1) There are two nice canal walks we know. This is the first (although it’s the same canal, just a different bit! Will blog about the other walk in future). For this one, drive east along the south bank of the river through Magnambougou until you get out of town. Then, just after a derelict factory (with chimneys!) you’ll see a strange looking metal structure on the left. Leave the road here and park up by the sluice. Here’s the place on Tim’s Bamako Map:
So, you’re driving in from the bottom left of the picture, then turn immediately left and park at the end of the lane. Then you cross one little bridge onto the triangular ‘island’ then the longer bridge over the sluice and you’re on a path between the Niger River and the canal.
From here it’s a couple of miles to the Brand New Bridge! When we did the walk (last Sunday) there were loads of mopeds going past, partly because the main road on the other side of the canal was blocked of for works on the bridge. Hopefully, this will change in the near future when the new bridge opens. As you walk along the canal, the view is very pleasant. You also pass a couple of small Bozo fishing villages. Once you get to the new bridge, you can either cross over to the right and walk back along the road or turn around and come back the same way. Or, if you’re feeling energetic (or riding a bike) you can continue along the same side of the canal a bit further – that will be the 2nd walk!
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