Road and Ferry to Timbuktu

An African bus is never full....	The main east-west highway through Mali connecting Bamako and Gao, this portion between Konna and Douentza	Mali Route N16 Konna-Douentza	Cattle and sheep herds at a waterhole by a village along N16, Mali
Man herding cattle, Central Mali	Man in a traditional hat carrying a little lamb	Nomad huts, central Mali	Nomad huts, central Mali
Our first camels	Men mounted on camels along the Timbuktu track	Man in a traditional hat wearing a tuareg blue galabaya	Village in Central Mali
Mudbrick mosque in a village between Konna and Douentza, marked on the Michelin map as Boré	Mosque in Boré, a village between Konna and Douentza (possibly Boré)	Boré Mosquée, between Konna and Douentza (possibly Boré)	MaliNov06 3051.jpg
Lily pond, Mali	Lily pond, Mali	Lily pond, Mali	Herd of cattle with the Dogon Plateau in the distance
North edge of Dogonland near Douentza, Mali	Village at the base of the north end of the Bandiagara Escarpment	Northern edge of Dogon Country near Douentza, Mali	Brickyard, Douentza
Sonef Transport Voyageurs Restaurant le Bonheur, Douentza	Sonef Transport Voyageurs Restaurant le Bonheur, Douentza	Mountains rising to the north of Douentza, Mali	Mosque of Douentza, Mali
Douentza Express - Telephone, Restaurant	Mudflaps of a truck in Douentza, Mali	The other female motif for a truck - Thanks Mom	Restaurant Tombouctou, Douentza, Mali
Douentza is the start of the Route de l'Espoir, a 195 km track to the Timbuktu ferry	Start of the Route of Hope ... I hope you find the Timbuktu Ferry	Tough to believe that there are elephants in Central Mali - Reserve des Elephants du Gourma, Douentza	Western end of the Monts du Hombori, just north of Douentza
Monts du Hombori, Mali	White-ish camel in tall grass, Mali	Those look like our first real Tuareg mounted on camels	Monts du Hombori
Western end of the Gandamia Mountains	One map calls these the Gandamia Mountains, another Monts du Hombori	Evening falls, Mali	Evening, Mali
Our 20 passenger Rotel Tours truck, Das Rollende Hotel	Rotel campsite north of Douentza	Nearly full moon on a clear Sahel night, Mali	The next morning, a man on a camel passes our campsite
		A 4x4 off the track	Rotel in the desert on the way to Timbuktu
Back on track, 160km to the ferry	Route de l'Espoir, Mali	Not far from the track, we spotted a nomad camp	Sory, our local guide from Mopti took us out to visit the nomads
At first they ran away but Sory was able to talk them into coming back out	Nomad camp between Douentza and Timbuktu	Family of Nomads camped along the track to Timbuktu	These people are racially different than the black Africans we had encountered so far
Nomad camp near the Douentza-Timbuktu track	Nomadic women and children, I believe they are Tuareg	Nomad family and hut	The men of the Tuareg nomad family we had just visited
Tuareg men walking along the track	Man of the Tuareg nomad family	Tuareg woman	Every 10km or so is a Forage (water well)
Village of Bambara Maoude, Mali	Village of Bambara-Maoundé, Mali	Bambara-Maoundé, Mali, close to the halfway point from Douentza to Timbuktu	Bambara-Maoundé, Mali
Bambara-Maoundé, Mali	Bambara-Maoundé, Mali	Bambara-Maoundé, Mali	The Sahel south of the Niger River heading for Timbuktu, Mali
A tiny village of primitive huts along the track to Timbuktu, Mali	People who seem to be waiting for some form of transportation	Village along the track to Timbuktu, Mali	This is a clan of Bella who we would end up spending quite some time with at the ferry
Very large extended family of Bella waiting for a truck to take them to the Timbuktu ferry	A mix of fashions	Bella family on the move with all their possessions	Hut in the village
Kids at a stop along the Timbuktu track	Ancient woman	Everywhere we go we make quite a scene	This could perhaps explain why the road is so bad...
Tough to believe there's a school out here...	It's looking more an more Saharan	Camel, Mali	Darsalam m Babou I
Girls in colorful dresses, Darsalam	Tiboraghen, Mali	Tiboraghen, Mali	Termite mound
Wetlands indicating the Niger River can't be far	Fleuve Tbtou 5km	Fleuve Tombouctou 5 km	Hamdulillah!
We'll worry about that tomorrow...	Tuareg men by the Timbuktu ferry	Tuareg chief with sword and rifle	Pirogue on the south bank of the Niger River at the Timbuktu Ferry
Painting on a pirogue, Niger River, Mali	A crazy German from Augsburg drove here in a Mercedes wagon!	The Timbuktu Ferry	Traffic waiting to board the Timbuktu Ferry
The full ferry leaving without us	With the very high water and very slow ferry, each round trip took over 2 hr 30 min	We've got lots of time to wait!	Cow waiting for the ferry
Cow along the Niger	Man herds a bull through the shallow water of the Niger River	Grilled meat for sale during our 8 hour wait for the ferry	The Bella clan we saw earlier arrive at the ferry by truck about an hour after us
The totally culturally insensitive German doctor thinking he's in France (at least he kept his shorts on)	Pious Muslim performing the al-'asr (afternoon) prayer	The Bella unload their village onto the ferry landing	Bella at the Timbuktu ferry
The tire of the truck they arrived in	Bella clan unloading their truck	Bella clan at the Timbuktu ferry, Mali	MaliNov06 3250.jpg
Along the Niger River, Mali	Can you hold that while I take some photos?	Tuarge man with mobile phone	Bella girl, Mali
Bella woman and child with the Niger River	The Bella tribe was formerly held in slavery by the Tuareg	Sabine	Carla Zanellini
Carla's new friend	Carla Zanellini from Milan breaking the ice with the Bella	Bella girl tries on Carla's glasses	Bella woman posing with Carla's sunglasses
Bella woman showing us some fabric	Our long wait for the ferry turned out to be quite interesting	Silhouette of a pirogue driver	Silhouette of a woman grinding millet
Udo spielt Mundharmonika	Udo Stark playing the harmonica for the Bella while waiting for the ferry	Udo Stark playing the harmonica for the Bella while waiting for the ferry	Boy with glasses, Mali
Woman grinding millet with the late afternoon sun	Carla gives millet grinding a go - hard work	Bull along the Niger River, Timbuktu Ferry	Man tying up the young bull
2 1/2 hours later, the ferry returns	Sunset over the Niger River at the Timbuktu Ferry	Silhouette of the tethered bull	Silouettes of men by the Niger River
The Bella clan loading their village on the ferry	Man in colorful robes and turban	A very very unhappy goat being dragged away to a waiting pirogue	Sunset and the ferry leaves without us...
Waiting under a full moon, Timbuktu ferry, Mali	Finally, 8 hours after our arrival at the ferry landing, we're crossing the Niger River to Timbuktu	MaliNov06 3311.jpg	Rotel crossing of the Niger River by ferry to Timbuktu
Moon halo, Mali	Moon over Mali	Port of Korioumé on our return trip after spending a night in Timbuktu	After 2 nights in Timbuktu, we try and get an early start back across the ferry, but several large trucks are already waiting
Port of Korioumé	American food aid to Mali	USAID to Mali, Port of Korioumé	USAID sacks stacked on the quay at the Port of Korioumé, Mali
American food aid to Africa - USAID split yellow peas	Hopefully all this is ending up where it's needed...	"USAID - From the American People"	Niger River at the Port of Korioumé
Port of Korioumé	During most of the year, the Niger River is much lower	Port of Korioumé, Mali	Port of Korioumé, Mali
Port of Korioumé, Mali	Port of Korioumé, Mali	Place Réservé au Bac Koriome	Port of Korioumé
Who Knows the Future - like when we're going to get on the ferry!	Niger River high water over the trees that line the road to Timbuktu	Korioumé	Laughing Dove, Mali
Village blacksmith, Port of Korioumé, Mali	Blacksmith in Korioumé, the village where the ferry arrives 18 km from Tombouctou (Timbuktu)	Blacksmith in Korioumé, Mali	Blacksmith at work, Korioumé, Mali
Boy in the village of Korioumé, Mali	Huts in Korioumé, Mali	Hen and chicks, Korioumé, Mali	Korioumé, Mali
Korioumé, Mali	Plate-Form Multi-Fonctionnelle - Village du Koriome	Mosque of Korioumé	Mosque of Korioumé
Mosque of Korioumé	Pinasses at Korioumé on the Niger River, Mali	Korioumé, Mali	Man with green turban on motorbike
90 minutes after our arrival, the first two big trucks board the ferry	Two big trucks make a full ferry load, so we have to wait	MaliNov06 3638.jpg	MaliNov06 3640.jpg
MaliNov06 3642.jpg	MaliNov06 3644.jpg	MaliNov06 3645.jpg	MaliNov06 3583.jpg
MaliNov06 3649.jpg	MaliNov06 3650.jpg	Sory, our local guide, promisies we'll make the next ferry	Three hours later, the ferry returns
Camels arriving in Korioumé on the Niger River ferry	Camels on the Niger River ferry, Timbuktu	Camels on the Niger River ferry, Korioumé, Mali	The camels seemed very reluctant to be on the ferry
...and they were not to easy to unload either...	Tuareg trying to control his camels	Tuareg man leading camels off the Timbuktu Ferry at Camels on the Niger River ferry, Korioumé, Mali	Unruly camels is probably why it took so long for the ferry to return this time
The camels weren't too pleased	Camel showing his displeasure	Korioumé, Mali	Camel train passing the Rotel, Korioumé, Mali
Look at the mess they made!	The Tuareg get the last of the camels off the ferry, Korioumé, Mali	Our local guide from Mopti, Sory, arranges us priority on the ferry by offering an official a lift to Douentza	As it turned out, the official found a faster vehicle but we were able to keep our spot
I didn't realize camels made so much shit...I guess they weren't thrilled with river travel	Korioumé, Mali from the ferry to the south bank of the Niger River	Korioumé, Mali	Korioumé, Mali
Korioumé, Mali	Korioumé, Mali	Niger River	A boat sunk in the shallows of the Niger River
Man with a Qadafi t-shirt, Timbuktu ferry	Korioumé, Mali	Korioumé, Mali	A spit of land connected to the south bank of the Niger River
Due to the extremely high water on the Niger River (Nov 2006) this small village is nearly an island	With the normally low water levels the ferry crossing is much shorter	South bank of the Niger River, Timbuktu Ferry	Pirogue with villagers, Mali
The crossing took nearly an hour	The northern end of the Timbuktu track - now back to Douentza	Wildlife sightings in Mali are rare - Roadkill	Roadkill snake, Mali
Backtracking along the Route d'Espoire back to Douentza	Sahel	Camels along the Timbuktu track	Camels and donkeys