Hombori (MLI) : Mali's Far West

After coffee (sweetened with condensed milk shaken up with Nescafe) and bread on the road passing through Douentza, I unfortunately discovered a ruptured spoke while checking the air pressure. Something after 15h00the spoke was replaced and we were packed and ready to go. Things take a little longer at 42°C in the shade! The vegetation got sparser and sparser as we left Douentza and 60 km farther on we sighted the first massive rock formations and monoliths reminicent of Monument Valley. Most impressive was the about 250m high three-finger-like formation known as Fatima’s Hand. In this landscape of giants the people we saw returning from the market on foot for kilometres seemed like ants. Once again we are impressed by what man can endure – and what Africans endure routinely to survive. The campment in Hombori was like home due to Hama’s hospitality and an elderly French couple we had met already in Mauretania and Senegal with their camping car. Despite the heat we enjoyed a short walk to higher ground from where the first dunes of the southern end of the Sahara were visible.