Douentza (MLI) : on the Ghadafi trail
N 15°00.605' W 002°56.872'
We enjoyed our last morning in Djenne watching the activity on the main square in front of the mosque while sipping a coffee. We felt some relief to leave behind the continuous pleas of children for ‘Bic’, ‘argent’ or ‘cadeau’. Ironically it was us who received here. Benno and Tecla from Holland gave us a 6 litre plastic jerry can wrapped in hessian – the perfect water cooler in dry climates and seen everywhere in Mali. Once we had crossed the river again, we soon were back on the Bamako-Mopti-Douentza road and noticed that all the villages were decorated with Malian flags. We took a break in Mopti around midday to change money, pop into the internet and have a cold beer. There we found out that Muammar Ghadaffi and Mali’s president were going to spend the night near Mopti en route to Tombouctou where an Islamic mass-prayer was being held and at which more than 50 heads of state were to attend. On the deserted road to Douentza many of the small villages thought we were the head of the convoy and we thus received chants “Ghadafi, Ghadafi, Ghadafi” as we rolled past the onlookers. At the campement that night three perfectly shaven Lybian men in a brand new deluxe Landcruiser arrived and promptly invited us for coffee (the cups were still in their original wrapping!), gave us pears (!) and mineral water – all from Lybia of course. They had been travelling in West Africa they said, didn’t mention a word about Ghadafi, asked a few questions in broken English and then left. We were amused by their feeble efforts to cover up their real ‘raison de etre’ and their ridiculous, small white beach hats with the brim folded up at the back. We had seen their uniforms on hangers in the car and the next day we saw their fellow ‘travellers’ in about fifty identical white 4x4s, all wearing their little hats – but now in uniform escorting Ghadaffi. Watching the large crowd for a few hours in the heat at the turn-off to Timbouctou with spontaneous dancing and singing was more interesting than the two convoys. The following day a day-hike along the northern end of the Bandiagara Escarpment to a Dogon village was a test of our endurance and resistance to the heat.
We enjoyed our last morning in Djenne watching the activity on the main square in front of the mosque while sipping a coffee. We felt some relief to leave behind the continuous pleas of children for ‘Bic’, ‘argent’ or ‘cadeau’. Ironically it was us who received here. Benno and Tecla from Holland gave us a 6 litre plastic jerry can wrapped in hessian – the perfect water cooler in dry climates and seen everywhere in Mali. Once we had crossed the river again, we soon were back on the Bamako-Mopti-Douentza road and noticed that all the villages were decorated with Malian flags. We took a break in Mopti around midday to change money, pop into the internet and have a cold beer. There we found out that Muammar Ghadaffi and Mali’s president were going to spend the night near Mopti en route to Tombouctou where an Islamic mass-prayer was being held and at which more than 50 heads of state were to attend. On the deserted road to Douentza many of the small villages thought we were the head of the convoy and we thus received chants “Ghadafi, Ghadafi, Ghadafi” as we rolled past the onlookers. At the campement that night three perfectly shaven Lybian men in a brand new deluxe Landcruiser arrived and promptly invited us for coffee (the cups were still in their original wrapping!), gave us pears (!) and mineral water – all from Lybia of course. They had been travelling in West Africa they said, didn’t mention a word about Ghadafi, asked a few questions in broken English and then left. We were amused by their feeble efforts to cover up their real ‘raison de etre’ and their ridiculous, small white beach hats with the brim folded up at the back. We had seen their uniforms on hangers in the car and the next day we saw their fellow ‘travellers’ in about fifty identical white 4x4s, all wearing their little hats – but now in uniform escorting Ghadaffi. Watching the large crowd for a few hours in the heat at the turn-off to Timbouctou with spontaneous dancing and singing was more interesting than the two convoys. The following day a day-hike along the northern end of the Bandiagara Escarpment to a Dogon village was a test of our endurance and resistance to the heat.
posted by Retobados at 1:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home