River Camp

Maria on watch as we cross Lake Debo.

Up and rolling around 7:15. We've repacked our bags in order to consolidate camp gear for the river trip. Breakfast is mediocre, and guests are nickel and dimed by the hotel (example: milk on the cornflakes cost extra). Just one more indignity by the Hotel Relais Kanaga. It is about a 10 click drive to Konna, where we meet and load the Pinasse that will take us up the Niger River to Niafounke.

In the pinasse.

The cruise up the river is pleasant, as we leisurely enjoying sights and scenes floating through shallow grassy marshes, delta mazes, and across Lake Debo. Some scenes along the river:

Egrets, heron, plover and kingfishers with black and white markings are all along the river.


Men fishing with nets, lines, and baskets, plying the river in pirogues, dugouts, and larger boats of every shape, size, and configuration.






We visit several villages including Gouna, Aka, Siebi, and Sibo, mostly Bozo, but some Filani. Paul explains again the specialization among the ethnic groups. Bozo primarily fish, while the Filani make their living from owning and tending cattle. Some sights from the villages:

Jan and her fans.

Imam

Wes and kids

Fisherman and net

Young and old goat.

The reader may be wondering how I remembered the names of the villages...

Easy. I used the same cheat sheet as our guide.

It is a good day to relax, enjoy the scenery and get caught up on the journal.


We make camp on a flood plain as the sun sets on the far side of the river. Main course for dinner was beautifully grilled Capitan. It was delicious. I eat more than my share. We were happy to learn that room was found on the boat for our liquor supply, so we enjoy wine with dinner and cap off the meal with an after dinner scotch.

River Camp - 360 degree panorama - click image to enlarge

Mopti & Hotel Kanaga

We break camp and hike out while the crew packs up. Soon our drivers in the loaded Land Cruisers pick us up and we are on our way to Mopti.

On the road we stop in a small town where we spend some time in a very interesting shop/museum specializing in beads and jewelry, ancient and current. Sigrid is taken with what she thinks is a necklace of carved quartz beads, but when we learn that the quartz beads, are old, pricey and are being sold individually we reluctantly decide to leave the "necklace" for other buyers. This may be the only thing we liked and did not buy on the trip, perhaps we are learning restraint.

We arrive in Mopti around 11 AM and pull into the Hotel Relais Kanaga, where we were told the rooms were being cleaned. We drop the bags and head out for for a walking tour of the waterfront, taking in the bustling activity in stalls and boats, with people selling fish, salt, fish, vegetables, fish, ceramics, fish, dairy, fish and more fish. Some scenes from the waterfront:







Various stages of the salt trade are in evidence, with huge slabs being loaded on and off of donkey carts, to and from boats, in and out of markets. In the stalls, the large slabs are broken down into smaller slabs, and bags of ground and rock salt.



Lunch at Restaurant Bozo on a point at the end of the pier. Food was good, the beer was better. Mark says he is going to buy one of the smaller slabs, and I ask him to get me one too. He delivers it to us later that day. I actually wanted one of the big slabs, but apparently Mark misunderstood me. I guess I just have to be satisfied with the little one.

After lunch, the group breaks in two - those wanting to continue a tour of Mopti, and those wanting to return to the hotel. Sigrid and I needed a break, so with Matthew and Cindy, we return to the hotel, check in, and I join Wes and Susan at the pool. Wes is working on his journal, I am working on my tan.


"What one word would you use to describe D'Jenne?" Wes asks me.

"Pungent." I reply. Not a fair characterization, there was much to see and experience in D'Jenne. Much history to learn and culture to appreciate. But it was my first reaction.

Turns out it was a lucky break that we checked in early, not so much for those returning from the tour. They were told no rooms were available. Paul gets into a big argument with a rude manager at the front desk. Long-short:Maria had to bunk with Jan, despite paying single rates for the tour, while Paul and crew had to camp or sleep in the truck. Later that afternoon, we saw a large European group check in and shown rooms without any problem, so clearly there were rooms available for all of our group when we were checking in. We learn later that the owner of the Kanaga Hotel apparently also runs a tour service that competes directly with TransAfrica Tours. They are apparently not above partaking in a little sabotage of a competitor's tour.

The Kanaga Hotel is nice. The pool is nice. The rooms are nice. But the food is mediocre, guests are treated like cattle at meals, service is poor, and front desk attitude is bad. Still, the pool and bar were a welcome break for those of us who got rooms early.

Djénné and Senassa

In the morning we are rolling early. First up - a visit to Senassa Village (Sangu) the site of a male circumcision ceremony for teenage boys. Fortunately, we were not there for the ceremony. Short climb. Interesting lecture. Spectacular views.

From the site high in the hills, the village almost looks like a miniature model. Extensive paintings cover the rock wall, caves and cliff face before us. The guide tells us that the images date back millennia but are repainted/renewed every year. One painting of a large snake invokes the memory of another lecture, in another African cave, a dozen years before.

Big driving day. En route to Djénné we take a ferry across the Niger River. The four Trans-Africa tour vehicles filled the flatbed aluminum ferry for the short ride across the river.We spooked a hippo as we pulled away from the shore.




Djénné is the home of the largest mud brick mosque in the world. Many interesting sites, scenes and smells. The town has been designated an UNESCO World Heritage site. As part of that designation, UNESCO put running water into the city in 2003, with an unintended consequence - The increased water usage overwhelms inadequate sewage systems, and the wastewater outlet is primarily the street. A pungent flow runs through most major streets. At one point I almost lost my lunch in the heat and smell.


While waiting for the ferry on the ride back, I walk up to Wes, Susan and Jan looking at a pinasse on the bank. I say "That's probably like the boat we'll be in for our trip on the river." They bust out laughing, saying we were just saying we hope our boat is not like that. As it turns out, I was right.

Our third camp was in a nondescript field near a village. Mountain Sobek calls it a "Bush Camp." Sigrid is almost getting used to camping. Almost.

Bush Camp Panarama (click to enlarge)