Campement Hotel La Guina Mopti

<br><br>We made our way from Djenne to Mopti to start our journey to Timbuktu. Mopti is the typical launch point for all those lost souls who think that you have to visit Timbuktu at least once in your life. The options for getting there are numerous. You could fly (not only is this notoriously unreliable, doesn&#8217;t this miss the point of Timbuktu??), drive (we&#8217;re planning to drive back, but the mystic of Timbuktu demands a more time consuming adventure to get ...

... of time. Coolboy is shouting, ticket seller is shouting, man who brought me there yesterday appears and is shouting at Coolboy too. It appears he got commission. Greeeeeeeat. Ok, no money back, fine, let's go, Coolboy, let's go! Ticket man stands up. Arms are being waved. Oh my god are they actually going to have a fight?! <br><br>It was ok, a fight was averted. No money was given back but there is not really any reason that it should have been, since it was my own silly fault in ...

... stand the heat.<br><br>On our way to the start of the hike we visited the largest and most accessible village in the area, Songo. The most interesting thing about this area is the rock paintings located on the nearby escarpment. The locals do not know who painted them or when they were painted. They repaint them every year but they are not sure why. Well, they look good on the rock face. The local kids in this area are always asking for empty water ...

... of Begnimato, where we got to see the ways the old hunters used to work. Continued walking to where we would have our lunch stop in a local village, the scenery/landscape is absolutely amazing and visually stunning. The rocks along the escarpment overlooking the sandy flat lowland to the south and able to see for many kms. Stopped briefly in Dourou for the market before continuing on to Nambori to camp on the roof. Had the opportunity to watch the village ...

Leaving Bamako for an unknown bushcamp near the world h**itage area of Djenne. This town is famous for its mud mosque, its the largest mud structure in the world. Transport to this town involved the truck, a traditional pirogue (canoe), followed by a ride on the roof of an old beaten up truck. Most of the group had organised to go with local guide by the name of "historian". He told us he was well know in the town as the local historian. He was quite the ...

WE left Nouakchott for anoth** few long driving days on the way to Nema and the weath** continued to get hott** and hott**...its probably around 40 degrees most days and the truck is getting hot and stinky but we are managing to keep relatively clean and we dont think that we smell too bad but maybe oth**s have a diff view!!! Sarahs eyes continued to cause h** some difficulties but the eye drops and saline we bought worked ov** time and she is now pretty fixed and looking normal ...

... for this Mali adventure - destination TIMBUKTU! The snowflakes w**e ominously enormous as we hurtled towards Bristol Airport, and when we arrived the snow was piled high eith** side of the runways and all the flights w**e delayed. But eventually we took off and arrived in a snowy Charles de Gaulle, Paris. It was s**iously cold and snowing as we wheeled our baggage miles to t**minal 3, a cav**nous cold warehouse of a building ...

... we could sometimes camp on the roof, or in rooms in mud houses. The villages are very small and simple, with no running water or electricity, so it was a fresh bucket of water from the well for our shower! As with lots of pllaces in Africa we were followed by kids everywhere. The Dogon culture is complicated, and we travelled with a local Dogon guide to help us navigate the local villages without offending locals and ...

... into two camps. Those that knew "that pig weren't alright" and those that simply thought some peoples personal hygiene sucked balls. And Sam who saw validity in both schools of thought. A leisurely day was had by all filled with the simple pleasures of napping and the weird euphoria of violent ********. Rach, Oli, Martin, Sarah and Josh were the ones worst hit by the pootomouth sledgehammer. I attempted some early morning pork eating in an attempt ...

... how pretty Regent Street would be. All the people bustling along under umbrellas dressed in hats, scarves, gloves and beautiful winter jackets. Mulled wine and winter Pimms. Ice skating in Hyde Park, Tower of London or various others places. Christmas parties and oh its just so wonderful this time of year... even in you are in a two horse town with slow internet connection and ridiculously expensive Pringles. So yes back in good ole ...