Mali aka: Mali

Mali is amazing! I loved it! Be prepared for an adventure!

didn’t make it to Timbuktu, but haven’t heard great things about it anyways! (would rather go to Agadez in Niger… soon, i hopes)

but Dogon country is amazing… really beautiful! and Djenne Mosque also very incredible (shame you can’t go in…) but you can go into smaller mosques (in Mopti or cross the border into Burkina Faso, where they are less strict! – that type of mosque is found all over northern western africa – northern ghana, burkina, mali, niger etc)

but this is my absolute favorite thing about Mali… the following quote comes from some BBC article, but is absolutely true in Dogon Country!

“The men, in contrast, spend a lot of time sitting and talking – vital work, of course – and gathering at the meeting house, which is built with a very low ceiling, the theory being that if the men cannot even stand up, they cannot get angry.”

I love the low ceilings! It’s genius really!

In the sub-Saharan African “meningitis belt,” which extends from Mali to Ethiopia, peaks of serogroup A meningococcal disease occur regularly during the dry season (December through June). In addition, major epidemics occur every 8-12 years (see Map 4-9). In 2000, a serogroup W-135 epidemic occurred in Saudi Arabia in association with the Hajj pilgrimage. Cases also occurred in returning pilgrims and their families, including several cases in the United States.

(See CDC’s Yellow Book, 4. Meningococcal Diseases.)

I spent a month backpacking through Mali, into areas where most tourists do not get to venture with my professor and a small group of students.

The people make this place. Very friendly and geniune. Incredibly hot (fancy that), but thoroughly enjoyable—you haven’t lived until you’re being bounced around a minibus with 18 other people no a hard clay road sucking sweet hibiscus tea out of a plastic baggie.

I lived in Mali for more than two years serving in the Peace Corps, and fell in love. Nine months out, I still dream of my host family, of the landscapes, of the storms and the children. Malians are a lovely lovely people, some of the most generous in the world. If you go, please get out of Bamako. It is an alright city, but you’ll meet the best people in smaller towns and villages. What tourists there are usually go to the Dogon Country to hike, which I highly recommend for its fascinating history and awe-inspiring natural scenery. If you can make it to Gao to see the Dune Rose (pink dune) and la main de Fatima (“Hand of Fatima”) cliffs, please do. I lived in the south, near the city of Sikasso. That region is greener and less touristed, but absolutely beautiful during the rainy season if you don’t mind the mud (I didn’t). Take lots of mosquito-repellent (no matter what region you’re going to) and good sunblock. We volunteers preferred the Cutter brand stick bug repellent, and I always used at least a 45 SPF. For food, eat mangoes, wheedula (spelling? Pronouced WEE-dyoo-luh), brochettes, fried plantains. If you want to be truly authentic, try “to” with okra sauce, but if authenticity’s not your first priority, avoid it like the plague. Nasty stuff. ;)

a really beautiful country that deserves much time to be discovered…

Shithole

Stayed In Bamako for 2 months on a Project, Interesting place and really an Eye opener.