I travelled in West Africa for something like three weeks. This was basically a tour of Mali, and I would say that three weeks is fine to take in the highlights of the country, though a month or more would allow you to get to more out-of-the-way places like Hombori (which from all accounts would have been well worth a visit) or a desert expedition out of Timbuktu. However, in my case, I had this irrational obsession to get at least a taste of Burkina Faso, and more specifically Bobo Dioulassou (I’d heard a lot of good comments about the place, and who knew when I’d be back in West Africa?), and slotted in five days there. Given the travel time involved, this effectively cut my time in Mali to just about two weeks.
Given that time frame, I was able to take in all the highlights – Timbuktu, the Dogon country, Djenne, Mopti, and Segou – only because I made use of a local tour operator, Mande Adventure Tours. I had been in email contact with them after I found their website on the Net. I had momentarily considered one of their packages – a 15-day tour of Mali covering everything (including Hombori!), very reasonably priced – but the offered dates did not jibe with my schedule and besides I had decided I wanted a degree of flexibility; also, I didn’t know how reliable they would be. I indicated that I might want to use their services to book hotels ahead and also my flight to Timbuktu. They met me at the airport and drove me into Bamako to the hotel of my choice, the Lac Debo; then they brought me to their office and we negotiated which of their services I wanted. I was initially interested only in booking a flight to Timbuktu and a 4-day Dogon country trek (as I wasn’t sure I would have the time to find a guide to negotiate with on my own); but these things have a way of luring you to the line of least resistance, and I ended up including Djenne and a pirogue river tour in Mopti in my arrangements. At the airport, the Mande Tours people had also latched on to a woman from California travelling by herself, and she ended up booking the bulk of her arrangements with them as well; we would find ourselves travelling together for about a week.
Would I recommend using the services of a tour operator like Mande Tours? Well, I have always preferred independent travel; and I have to say that, quite aside from the good and bad in my experience with Mande Tours in particular (which I’ll get to later), the portion of my travel AFTER my arrangements with them were over – in Burkina Faso and in Segou back in Mali – gave me the feeling of satisfaction that I always miss in even the best prebooked arrangements, in making my own way and meeting people on my own. That said, I must say that Mali is one place where I could really appreciate the advantages of arranging logistics through an operator. The logistics of transport around the country can be very trying and time-consuming; and often even someone travelling independently will end up having to negotiate private transport and other arrangements anyway at some points. Obviously some people would have more skill, stamina, and patience for this than others; and time is naturally a factor: having a month instead of two weeks at your disposal gives a lot more leeway to look around, find congenial travellers to share costs with, haggle, and compare offers. Comparing my costs with those of a Dutch couple I met in Sevare who were negotiating arrangements as they went along, I would say that doing it that way could bring down your costs by as much as a third or more. (Of course, if you absolutely refuse to engage ANY privately-arranged transport and would rather wait around for a couple of days for cheap public transport to turn up, this would REALLY cut costs – at the expense of time.) I would note that, when I told the Dutchman that theirs seemed the right way to do it, he expressed his doubts that the constant hassle of negotiation and not knowing if tentative plans would come off, were really worth it.
I have to admit that having the tour operator around to give me the information about the right bus to take, the departure times, the cancellation of a flight (without your having to find out upon arrival at the airport), as well as to provide my transfers to and from airports and bus stations, was a major easing of my time constraints. I should also say that such arrangements as I took with Mande Tours were very good – the guides and vehicle drivers were very well-informed, pleasantly disposed and articulate, and almost too eager to maximize the use of our time (there were moments when we’d have preferred to be left alone!). On my last day in Bamako, they went the extra mile in finding a way to get me on a fully-booked flight to Paris. At the same time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that, when it came to PRICING, they would charge what they felt you would swallow, and you owed it to yourself to negotiate. This may simply have been due to the fact that, given the uncertainties of travel conditions in Mali, they were never quite sure of their own costs themselves and there was an element of improvisation in their quotes. My major beef with them was their handling of my Dogon arrangements, when my designated guide for my 4-day foot trek suddenly got sick and they pressured me to join instead a 3-day vehicle tour – which in fact turned out very well, and perhaps more enjoyable than the foot trek would have been, but that was not the point, to my mind.
The above considerations of course may apply as well when dealing with freelance guides or transport operators as you travel independently, when in fact you may have less recourse to professional standards if things don’t work out; so they are not necessarily an argument NOT to deal with tour operators. I would recommend, though, if you decide to use one, to have a couple of days in Bamako (or wherever) to do some comparison shopping – and let them know it! Also, when finally settling on a price, you should set down very definitely exactly what is covered by the price – and what your recourse is if some eventuality causes a major change in the plans.
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Mali’s capital Bamako is not going to win any prizes as most attractive city in Africa. It is very dusty and had an overall impression of shabbiness. Arriving at the airport is in fact not really a hassle – immigration and customs people process arrivals pretty efficiently, though baggage claim took quite a while – and the drive from the airport to Bamako was pleasant; the landscape was greener than I expected, with fields of millet. (As I was met by Mande Tours, I cannot comment on the problems of finding transport into the city on your own. I understand that you pretty much have to use a taxi, which would cost at least $8.)
But entering Bamako in early evening, the air was so thick with dust and fumes that vehicles’ headlights looked like they were going through fog. This unfavorable impression was not helped by my choice of a hotel. I had chosen the Lac Debo as central and inexpensive on the basis of a favorable notice in my Bradt guidebook. (I didn’t have the LP West Africa, but the California woman I ended up travelling with, told me this hotel had been well-reviewed there too.) Well, I hate to have to say it as the people running it were so nice – but it was a dump. There was no running water the two nights I was there, and water was supplied a bucket – a SMALL bucket – at a time, and the room and corridors had a very dilapidated feel. (There WAS airconditioning when the city wasn’t subject to a power failure.) For CFA 15000 (about $20 at the exchange rate of the franc then), it just wasn’t good value.
I may as well comment at this point that, in my experience, Mali hotels, or at least budget hotels, are expensive for the quality they offer – especially compared to hotels of a similar price range in Southeast Asia or Latin America. On my return to Bamako at the end of my trip, I chose the Hotel Dakan, at the same price but farther away from the center. While better than the Lac Debo – it had running water and a pleasant central garden for open-air meals – the room still felt rundown. Outside Bamako, my hotels were better but still no prizewinners. By far the best of my Mali hotels was l’Auberge in Segou, but that was in a higher price bracket – toward $32.
However, first impressions notwithstanding, I found that a day or two in Bamako was worthwhile. It was pleasant strolling about, primarily because of the people, whom I found remarkably easygoing and good-natured. I had been braced for hassles and hustlers, but the atmosphere was far more relaxed than in, say, Nairobi or Fez. There is a lot of color in the streets, with almost all women, and a good number of men, in vivid long robes and headdresses; and the market is a “must” experience for the sheer color and variety and the bustle of activity. It sprawls all over the open-air streets of central Bamako, and you can easily get lost in the maze of lanes and stalls and products. (I missed the fetish market, just beyond the main market, but my friend from California told me it is memorably creepy.) This is pretty much the main attraction of Bamako. The National Museum is supposed to be good, but it was closed (though it wasn’t supposed to be) when I went there. Your first view of the river Niger, which you cross coming from the airport, is exciting, but the river is more beautiful at other places like Segou or the crossing to Timbuktu.
Bamako, when I was there, was relatively cool, especially compared to other places I visited, deeper into the dry Sahel area. The main problem in wandering about was the dust, as, apart from the main artery roads, the inner streets are all unpaved dirt roads. The food was all right if nothing remarkable; when in doubt, you can always order capitaine, the famous Niger fish (for that matter, this applies all over Mali). I mostly ate at my hotels’ restaurants.; for a splurge, I tried Le San Toro which was a beautiful place, and not that expensive (about $8). I never got to sample the nightlife, which I regret as Bamako is supposed to have excellent music. (A French guy I spoke to told me it can be difficult to find the right spots for good music unless you’re with a local.)
A word on language: It obviously makes a lot of difference if you speak French. I don’t and was able to get around on my own; but I did find a phrasebook essential as I found I had to make SOME effort at using basic French words or phrases to get by, particularly in asking directions on the street at random. While usually in most places with tourist traffic – hotels, bus stations – someone is bound to speak some English, this is not always so, and it makes it easier on yourself to have some standard French lines down pat. I was amazed at how essential French is in Mali (and this applies to Burkina Faso as well): our guide in Timbuktu, who was Tuareg, could speak half a dozen languages, but, when in Bamako, he has to speak French as he can’t speak Bambara, the language there!
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| I didn’t really expect much from Timbuktu (I only included it in my itinerary because, well, how can you not want to say “I’ve been to Timbuktu” ?) and only allotted one overnight there, as most tour itineraries do. |
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