12th of May – Timbuktu
Ali picks us up at 08.00h and he was able to arrange a visit to the mosque with the gardien. What an impressive building. Immediately we are surrounded by tourist guides and people trying to sell us tuareg jewelry. We are greeted by the iman and climb through narrow passages to the small platform on top. We get dirty from the dust and are sweating. But the view from the top is breathtaking. Ali drives us to the plane, the entire crew of the airport lines up for a picture and ground temperature at take-off is 52 degrees. These will remain our biggest impressions of niger: its friendly people and the heat!
We receive permission to fly directly to timbuktu and since we have enough tail wind we don‘t need the fuel stop in gao. We fly at 18‘500 ft and the desert below us is like a brown mirage. Not even three hours later we descend to timbuktu where the controller in the tower is again a woman. Temperature on the tarmac is over 50 degrees and handling is the most efficient so far: we sit in the car that brings us to the hotel within 29 minutes!! (in efficient switzerland this takes up usually on hour). Fuel truck was at our airplane within minutes and immigration and customs the most efficient; there was none!!
The hotel is very simple but clean. To our relief the air con is running in the rooms and after taking a shower i wonder why the floor heating in the bathroom is on… In the lobby it is 42 degrees, lunch with capitain (local fish from the niger river) is very good and people are very friendly again. We are able to get our shirts washed within a few hours; drying them should not be a problem here. The handling agents visits us to check whether all is fine and we book through him a sightseeing guide for 17.00h. Before it is simply too hot! The tv in the room shows the mali version of mtv; local music with women dancing with erotic moves followed by a local soap opera (that‘s at least what i can make sense out of it).
At 17.00h our tour guide akrim picks us up with a driver and we go to see the tourist office first. Everybody wants to have the stamp of timbuktu in the passport. We wander through some allies and realize how poor people are here. The poorest one live in some kind of tents. They are the former slaves of the tuaregs and really have nothing. Some people back home in switzerland who think they have a problem; send them here! Unfortunately the new scroll museum built by the south africans is still closed (it was highly recommended by our friend philippe) and we see it only from the outside. We pass by the big mosque which can take up to 12‘000 people, visit an artist who does scrolls and has some very old ones and see another big mosque built with mud. Every year they have to rebuild it after the raining season; the building just de-solves.
We start to realize what a big center of commerce timbuktu was around 700 years ago when the city had over 100‘000 people. It lived mostly of the salt trade and one kilo of salt was worth one kilo of gold. Science and art were thriving. But recently people here are confronted with much more serious problem. The level of water in the ground went down from 2 meters 40 years ago to more than 22 meters. So it is very hard to get water. The niger river flew through town in the 60‘s but now is 18 kilometers away from timbuktu! And then was the big drought in the 70‘s; most of the live stock (animals) of the people in the desert was killed and they still suffer from it today. We think we have a problem with our glaciers melting away; see these people here who had nothing to start off and are faced with problems of survival now! Besides that, one of their main source of income, tourism is down substantially since most western countries declared the region unsafe and recommend to stay away from it. It is the case (and everybody confirms this) outside the big cities like timbuktu, mopti etc. But we feel very safe here in timbuktu.
After touring the city, we drive the 18 km out to the niger river and take a sunset cruise in one of the local boats. Unfortunately it is already late but we get an impression of the people living of the river. The settlements are very poor and everything is provided by the niger: food (fish), water to drink and wash, income in the form of fishing or running boats/ferries. When we return to the boarding point, it is already dark and we don‘t see anything: just some fires and not the people. The light over the river is almost magical and the stars are coming up. Our guide, a native tuareg, explains us how he was taught by his grandfather not navigate by the stars in the desert.
Back in the hotel the 3 tuaregs we met in the city are waiting for me to sell me some jewelry. They explain me that since they are nomads and have no paper, they are not allowed to sell their goods in the city. The bracelets, neckless, knife and pipe are made by them, by their parents or grand parents and are typical for each village. I pick some items and we start to negotiate; i know i pay way too much. But with the proceed they can support their families and villages in the desert. One of them will go back to his village the day after tomorrow; 6 days with 11 camels, walking mostly at night and navigating with the stars. The amazing thing: he asks me for a business card so he will be able to send me an e-mail and show his gratitude. The tuaregs arrived in the 21st century – at least partially.
Over dinner we learn from the son‘s owner how he met his fiancé, his first kiss, engagement ceremony and how he plans to get married in december. Of course we are invited! Off to bed and while the pilots are on cloud seven with their dreams, the poor webmaster works on his site until 23.00h. But uploading has to wait – the internet access here ain‘t working today. Again – sorry folks!
What another eventful day full with new impressions. People are really poor here, have their problems to survive – but they seem to be happy and friendly. Il y a pas de problem!!
13th of May – Djenné
Breakfast as usual at 07.15 outdoors on a terrace as it is not so hot yet; only around 30 degrees. They drive us directly to the airplane with no security or any other check. We are airborne at exactly 09.00h and it is very hot in the plane again. We are just dripping and drink a lot of water. Within 50 minutes we arrive in mobti where we have to spell the name of our country of origin(switzerland) to the tower since he does not know it. The controller has a lot of stress as an air mali flight is taking off while we are approaching. We wonder what he does when it is getting really busy; i.e. More than 3 flights a day. The ground crew helps us to secure the plane since there could be wind and thunderstorms! In the desert??
We go straight to the hotel yapasdeproblems (which also became one of our favorite quotes), take a shower, change and take the car to djenné with is 127 km on a good road. Shortly before arrival we have to board a ferry to cross the bani river and we are the favorites with the girls selling their jewelry on the boat. The driver drops us off near the square with the big mosque, a world heritage site. But first we go to baba‘s, a local restaurant (kind off) and drink 1 1/2 liter of water each. It is hot here; over 45 degrees again!! Sometimes the camera feels even too hot to touch!
The town is dirty with garbage everywhere. The partly open sewage system with it smell does not make it prettier either. And the mosque does not look so impressive as on the pictures. We walk by several signs telling us that we are not welcome inside; all the way and not seeing it. But soon we learn that for cfa 10‘000.– per person paying to the iman it is possible even for us to see the inside. There are a lot of people laying around taking a siesta and the arches remind me of notre dame in paris where we were not even a month ago. We wander through narrow allies, learn that they have 3 building styles here: moroccan, sudanese and a local one (a mixture of both). All is built with bricks made from mud which means that after each raining season the buildings need renovating. The mosque is a constant construction site for this reason.
People are really poor here and there is dirt and garbage everywhere. The worst are the plastic bags that hang around everywhere since the goats can‘t eat them (they recycle everything else). The not so sophisticated open sewage system contributes to the smell which matches quite well. The goods sold in the local market don‘t call for great dinners here!
When we are leaving town there is a lot of wind and it starts raining immediately. A thunderstorm in the desert – completely new to us. But it lasts only till we reach the ferry again (girls waiting for the pilots to sell more jewelry) and we are back in mopti at around 18.00h. All of a sudden we realize that we are hungry and that we didn‘t have lunch today!! So shower first, logging into the hotel‘s wifi and get capitain (the local fish) for dinner. Rainer orders two wines (rosé and red) – both of them not drinkable. So it is beer and mineral water.
Today we had for the first time mixed feelings. The heat, the poverty, the dirt and the agressivness of some people really started to get on our nerves. Why is this place so dirty here and why don‘t they clean it; it is not such a big work to make it more livable!
