Number 8: Mali 2011

On the Bami River from Mopti to Djenné

Our boat at a lunch break

In 2011 a friend of mine visited a development project close to Mopti in Mali (http://www.rondombaba.nl/). This was a country a wanted to visit for a long time, and so I took off to Bamako…. with a total of 58 kg of luggage, mainly spare parts for the aching 4x4 of the project.

The great mosque in Djenné is the world's biggest Adobe building. The actual building is not much older than 100 years. 

Access is not permitted for non-believers, but as always, capitalism is more successful than  fundamentalism

One of the prime sights in Mali are the adobe (dried mud brick) buildings. The great mosque in Djenné is the biggest adobe building in the world. In Mopti we got the chance to take a boat to Djenné. The boat had no engine. The boatmen had to pole the boat most of the time, against the current and sometimes against strong wind. Only the last day the wind is from behind and the boatmen are able to hoist an old tent as a sail.

Poling against the current of the river

Sailing is easier

It took three days. On the first evening we traveled until a quarter past eleven, on the second even until midnight. In addition to this drudgery, the boatmen also cooked our food and served hot sweet tea regularly. Cooking is done on a charcoal stove in the back of the boat. This boat trip through a quiet, unspoiled landscape is like a journey through time. It's one of the most impressive travel experiences I've ever had.

Lunch ist almost ready

While we usually lay lazily in the boat, life on the river passes by. Wealthier villages, dominated by their clay mosques. but also others, especially of the Bozo fishermen, which consisted only of simple thatched huts where women do their business washing clothes or dishes in the river or fetch water. Fishers use primitive casting nets, fish traps or large trawls that men spread in the shallow water. Every now and then a fish jumps into our boat. This should bring good luck, but not for the fish that go into the soup.

Village women washing the dishes

Keeping fish fresh

Trying to ferry a cart across the river

Sometimes a path runs along the river on the dike. Except for a few mopeds, there is no motorized traffic. Every now and then a lucky man has a bike. We observe groups of carts, pulled by donkeys or oxen, lazily chasing their way. Lone hikers carry a bundle on their head.

Fisherman on the Bami

The fishermen are a from a separate tribe

At every stop our boat becomes the target of all children in the village. They are satisfied with the gift of an empty water bottle. However, it is difficult to share water bottles. When someone has captured a bottle, the others are disappointed and want something too. But they are not really intrusive.

Bottles are very coveted and sometimes whole crowds of children come and fight for one

Village boy herding cattle

Another fashionable cattle herder

We sleep on a mattress under a mosquito net in the boat. The nightly calm and darkness is fascinating. No car headlights, no street lights even when we pass a village. Not even a glow in the distance. The light comes only from the stars and every now and then from a flashlight that our boatmen use to find the shipping channel in the dark. The sound of the piles or oars, a jumping fish and now and then the beeping of a water bird or the annoyed sounds of cattle disturbed in its night's sleep is accompanied by the constant chirping of the crickets. There is no electricity anywhere, so all activity ends at nightfall.

Quietness starts after sunset

Fetching water in the first morning light

In the heat of the afternoon on the third day, after 34 hours of hard work, we reach the ferry that forms the road link to Djenné. A couple of motorbikes waiting takes us to the city. A bit more than a year later Mali drowned in the chaos of civil war caused by intruding fundamentalists. The peace of those times did not yet return….

One of the big merchant's mansions in Djennë

Only the electricity poles are a modern addition. Mali does not have an electricity network. Little power stations produce the electricity locally. Without them there is darkness

Donkey or horse carts are still the main means of transport in the countryside

Only few of the streets of Djennë are paved