Independence day in Mali

The day begun with the air force planes flying very low, the noise was defining but with some air of excitement.
I went with my friend Sandy Cisse to the centre of Bamako to catch a bit of the celebrations
There were all sort of ensemble from drumming troops with djumbes Sabas you name it they were there
After we left to some trade fare which was part of the celebrations letting people know about produce of Mali that was quite good and informative
The whole celebrations came to a creshendo in the evening when I went to the Hogon
There were a lot of artist Toumani Diabate, Amadu and Miriam Paul Simons Band some rap Artist from America and lots of guest artist the music was breathtaking.

Le Hogon night spot

Le hogon is a night club ,its quite a traditionnally set up which is nice. They are not trying to be what they are not so it adds to the appeal.
The bar is quite simple and effective, you dont have to wait ages for a drink,and people here are very friendly
live music here every friday is provided by the symetric ochestra and Toumani Diabate, Toumani does not make appearance every week but some times his brother Alhaji Diabate plays in his place who is also a very good and a talented Kora player,most times that i have been here it has been brilliant,
The versitility of the band makes it entertaning.every one comes here to enjoy themselves and the place is virtually trouble free

transport in Mali

The transportation situation here is not like Europe where you wait at bus stops you have to get a taxi or the local bus which I don’t recommend if you can pay a bit more for a taxi you can try it out but it get so pack and it stops everywhere for new people to get on board.
Most people ride on scooters every where, I think there are more scooters than cars and all of them don’t wear helmets I have just seen two women with some on
I have noticed that traffic don’t stop for pedestrians to cross on the zebra so one must be careful when crossing the roads also even there are places that people have to forcefully push their luck to cross the roads. I have been quite scared few times when the guy I am walking with asks me to cross and all of a sudden we see cars everywhere and I get freaked out
There are other forms of transport that I have encountered as well donkeys pulling carts I suppose its very practical but the poor donkey, one I saw today really seem fed up but I suppose that’s where the expression work like a donkey comes from.
I have decided to make my own decisions about travelling because my guide Nahoam seem to think I want taxis everywhere I am sure that is what they are use to people visiting so I told him today that I like to walk to places unless its very urgent to get to somewhere in time its ok to walk, it help me get my bearing I don’t think he likes walking much but I do or at least want to most of the cars I am sorry to say will not even make it to an MOT entrance which proves a point how we have been spoilt by the throw away culture in the west good on Malians and all Africa cars that I have seen in scrape yards in England looks new to some cars that are running here in Africa.
We are all going on about global warming and we keep on using the earth resources to maximum and don’t even get optimum usage out of what we take from the planet
I think most western leaders should like Mali,Gambia, Ghana etc to help them come up to date with what the world is really is.
Mr Blair please visit Mali next time instead of Babados

life at Bamako

Babmako is a very lively city its kind of city with a little bit of modern things and some more of old things that works,if any one want to know about conserving energy and the worrd resources they should come to Bamako for some practical lessons
The last few day in Bamako has been a real eye opening experience even thou I am an African I have been westernised hence have lost some of my original traits but its been good that I am here now to relearn and relive my experience and get some of my lost past back.
there is a lot to be said about this city so i will leave you guessing and add more updates in due course

the journey has begun

my journey begun on tuesd day the 5th of september, i flew from london heathrow to cassablacca and then on to bamako
the journey took quite long than i anticipated
at cassablanca i was hit by what was to come or what awaits me in the next few months,no one spoke english so my very little french came to play,eventually i managed to get a can of coke,whilst i was waiting i notice a lady who looked english so i approached her and behold she was from Plymouth was also on transit to Niger to get married we chatted for ages and compared notes till it was my time to go
i queued for a bit and we were finally on some old 747 aircraft.the flight took off well and we were airbone, all the food served had meat and as i was a vegitarien ,i was told to have ask at the desk on departure,so i had to just settle for som dinks and bread.
at about 3 am we touched down at Bamako airport it was a bit of a rocky landing i was looking at the man in front of me praying,that got me panicking a bit but the all was well and we stopped,the aircraft pulled very close to the building so we started to dis embark.
the airport was quite modest compares to what i have witnessed in recent years,on enteringthe building we queued for a bit and i had to face african protocol
my firstencounter with officialdome
papie no stamp goes the official
i told him i was a west African national and did not need a visa,he goes dont talk about visa so he put my bit on the sid and started serving others ,i was told by some one he needed some bribe but i was adamant was not prepare to pay any bribe,i waited for some time and i think he got the message that i was not going to move i was prepared to even wait in a cells till the morning so he buckled in the end and gave me my passport stamped
my worst nightmare came when i got all my luggagebut one piece which was part of a bigger rugsack no sign of that i had to fill in forms in french people were not that helpful in the early part of the morning so i decided to go and come back the next day
i told my self welcome to Bamako