Visit the Broadway Café:

Apparently run by someone who lived in the USA for a while, this place offers good quality, western-style food in a pleasant, air-conditioned environment and at affordable prices! What more could you want?

Well, as you’re asking, slightly faster service! However, as long as you take a pack of cards with you (as we’ve become accustomed to doing in Africa) then the wait will go quickly!

My favourite item on the menu (so far) is the ‘breakfast burrito’ – only a couple of quid, but HUGE – you could almost share it between two people. Filled with potatoes, cream, veg and other tasty things, it’s a real treat!

They also do coke floats (or sprite or any other fizzy drink), and you can choose any two flavours of icecream from a decent range! Don’t take my word for it – visit yourself! It’s located a block north of the Route de Koulikoro, not far from the Fourmi supermarket or the ‘Express’ restuarant.

Meanwhile, have a butcher’s at the following sites:

This one has info about the restaurant – including a map

This is a blog of some missions folks who went there once.

And here’s a photo of the Broadway’s meat soup and rice, which someone thought worthy of publishing on a blog!

Thanks for reading – bon appétit!

Drive up a hill and admire the city from the top.

Here’s my mate, Clive, admiring the view a few months back, with the Niger River in the distance:

One thing I love about Bamako (especially after Cotonou) is that it has hills and that means views! There are few things more rewarding, I find, than getting to the top of a hill and looking back down on where you’ve just come from.

Now, you could climb the hills, but in hot season this is not a great idea. The views in this post were taken from a place you can drive to, so no need to get hot and dusty in the process. Also, I’m informed that thieves operate in this area, so it may be unwise to leave your vehicle or proceed too far on foot.

To get there, take the road past the National Mali Museum (due to be covered in a supsequent TTDIB) and past the zoo (already done here). As you ascend the hill, you will see a dirt road to your right labelled, I think, “Piste Touristique du Point G” or words to that effect. Take the road (a 4×4 is best for this) and enjoy the view! Here are some more pics from a bit further down the road:

These were taken in December, when it’s a bit dusty, so maybe rainy season is a better time to get a really clear view of the city (as long as the dirt road isn’t too muddy then!)

A thought: you could even do the zoo, the museum and the viewpoint in the same day – now that’s good time-management!!!

Have a picnic on a rock!

(Okay, when I say ‘In Bamako’ I mean not to far out of Bamako this time!!)

There’s a lovely area just a few clicks outside of Bamako, where we like to go for a picnic/frisby throw/kite fly! It’s nice all year round, but prettier in rainy season (for obvious reasons). Plenty of fun rocks to scramble on and very peaceful too.

To get there, head out of town, over the Old Bridge to the Tour d’Afrique, then take a left towards Segou. Drive past the stadium (RHS), a new housing estate and a check point, then a few miles further on you’ll start to see the rocks as you ascend a slight hill. In total, it’s maybe 20 miles from the city. You can then drive off the road to the right or left and park up somewhere. We find the left side to be better and take a track just after the hill (past the small ‘Auberge’ on the right), but anywhere is nice!

A word of warning – there are snakes about! One of our party spotted one, but it disappeared quickly. Then later we found further evidence:

However, as long as you make enough noise and don’t put your hand/foot into any dark nooks & crannies, the risks shouldn’t be too high! And, anyway, with scenery like this, we still think it’s well worth visiting:

Thanks to Andy for some of these photos (and for joining us on one of our fun excursions there!)

Take a boat trip on the Niger River:

Yes, less than a mile from my house, I can take a leisurely cruise on this boat:

We went on New Year’s Day (with Clive, whom I greatly thank for the photos in this post) and it was a relaxing and enjoyable experience! The whole trip lasted around two hours – under the Old Bridge and almost as far as the New Bridge. We then doubled back and went eastwards into the countryside, with views like this:

Very pleasant! The boat held around ten people and was powered by a motor. The whole trip cost 2,000cfa per person (that’s around £2.80), which is good value for money! To catch the boat yourself, take the road to the right of the ‘Amandine’ restaurant near the old bridge (the CRS/Bla Bla road) to the very end and ask for the boat ride man. Should work!

Have a good trip!

Visit the Luna Park!

Bamako’s answer to Alton Towers, the Luna Park has some fun rides for all the family (and some lethal-looking ones too!)

Of course, it is considerably more ‘down market’ than any theme park I’ve been to in Europe, but still fun! We especially enjoyed the dodgems – or bumper cars, which is a better name because you are actually allowed to bump here! There was also a fun ride which went round in circles and you could press a button to move up or down!

However, the merry-go-round (or terror-go-round) was an ‘unforgettable experience’ (top right photo). It seemed to have only one speed: very fast, and the seats swung out at about a 45 degree angle. Finally, it went on for what felt like an age. My daughter threw up after going on it, and I felt dizzy for quite a while! Kind of fun, but not for the faint-hearted!

The Luna Park opens around 4:00pm and is worth a visit (but don’t blame me for any injury/discomfort/trauma suffered during your trip!) There are loads of nice photos of the park here and an article in French (showing the park packed out to capacity) here.

Of course, the Luna Park reminded us of “Magicland” in Cotonou (blogged about here) and, whilst that one was newer and therefore less run down, I think that the Luna Park has as much to offer in different ways.

Thanks for reading!

Visit the zoo!

Now, I must confess I was dubious about visiting the place; I’d been to other African zoos and generally not been impressed by the conditions (of the animals and how they’re kept). However, I was pleasantly surprised by Bamako zoo, which was well laid out and with a good range of animals to see. AND…they were all still alive!!

Okay, I admit that they’re not kept in conditions comparable with many European zoos, but after seeing Cotonou’s attempt at a zoo (ie a donkey, a sad-looking lion and two pots full of snakes), it really wasn’t all that bad. Here’s a list (from memory) of animals we saw:

Lions
Monkeys
Chimps
Hyenas
Deer
An elephant
A crocodile
A warthog
Marabou Storks
Pelicans
Snakes
Turtles
Fish

They even used to have manatees, but their pool is now empty. The guys at the zoo assured me more manatees were ‘on order’ and would arrive soon!

However, a relatively new addition was the baby elephant, which the kids loved:

Click here for another blogger’s description of Bamako Zoo and here for a couple more nice photos of the place. The best thing was the entry fee: 50cfa per person (that’s about 8 pence!) Mind you, to enter the elephant enclosure, we had to pay an extra 500. T.I.A.!!!

Visit the “Tour d’Afrique” in Faladie.

There it is! An impressive piece of architecture, I think you’ll agree! Located on the edge of town, the “Tower of Africa” can be seen for miles around. In spite of its distinctive character, I can find no information about when or why it was built (anyone help?)

So, for a fun visit with the family, get a SOTRAMA from near Azar’s supermarket in Badala (for only 150 cfa each) and you should be there in 15-30 mins. Then you can climb the stairs to the top for under 1000cfa (usually) or even catch the lift if you’re feeling brave!

The view from the top is interesting, but unimpressive; the location of the tower means you’re mostly looking out on a series of dual carriageways and flat suburbs in every direction:

Inside, there are painted displays on every floor, showing agriculture, industry, technology and (I presume) former Malian presidents:

Here’s a large photo of the tower on Wikipedia and here’s its location, courtesy of Google maps. Bamako is well endowed with interesting monuments of all shapes and sizes – see some more of them here.

Have a fun trip!