Oh my god! What a miserable night. I think a combination of hot weather, hot food, and a hot tent was more than my body could stand and it rebelled spectacularly: 5 night-time trips to the odious squat (no comfortable Western-style sit-down toilets here) for diarrhea and 1 for vomiting. I’m fairly certain this is not an infection, just a bad case of traveler's diarrhea. God I feel terrible, but … [Read more...]
Dogon trek, Mali, Days 204-206
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Christi and I enjoyed a surprisingly comfortable night under the stars on our rooftop mattresses. As usual it was so warm that neither of us required blankets. We pack, eat breakfast and then undertake a brief tour of Begnemato, a classic Dogon village. We wander through the narrow alleyways poking our heads into people’s homes and watching them pounding millet, collecting water, or … [Read more...]
Songo and the Niger River, Mali, Day 207
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There’s no rest for the wicked. I'm up at sparrow fart (a.k.a dawn) loading bags onto the truck and also putting a separate day pack together (tonight we'll be off the truck camping on the banks of the Niger River ). Eat a rushed breakfast and we leave Bandiagara at 7 am. Our first stop is the village of Songo, another perfect picture-postcard Dogon community (the rubbish aside). This village … [Read more...]
Niger River to Djenne, Day 208
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Christi and I sleep remarkably well on the banks of the Niger River, but packing up the campsite in preparation for onward travel to our destination for the evening, Djenne, is problematic. Our tour group is acting more like toddlers at a daycare center - no one wants to give up their new toy. In this case the cool, refreshing (but not necessarily safe) waters of the Niger River. Sheldon Cooper, … [Read more...]
Senossa to Sevare, Day 209
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Considering Djenne is the jewel in West African tourism we spend very little time here. Of course that could partly be because Christi and I together with Sinead O'Connor and Stan Laurel are going to visit that great Saharan city of Timbuktu - a place deemed too unsafe for the Dragoman truck to visit so we have to sign off the tour for a few days. (And Adonis does literally make us sign forms … [Read more...]
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