Tombouktou really exists and I've Been there. (hint it's in Mali)

A LOOK BACK AT MY PREVIOUS TRAVELS (PART 1: MALI 2000-2001)

I am guessing that most of you have not been following the new coming out of West Africa recently, but I have been, almost obsessively. There was a coup in Mali, which toppled one of the most stable, long-term democracies in that part of the world. This opened up the government to a renewed surge by the Tuareg to capture territory in the north, which they promptly did, aided by Al-Quada friendly groups. So the world has imposed sanctions on Mali, cutting off all their land borders, which for a landlocked country is very damaging.

Why do I care? Well I care because once upon a time in a different world I lived in Mali. And I loved it, hated it, it broke my heart and showed my the resilience and kindness of people.  It changed who I am as a person. At the age of 26 I had never been farther than Calgary or Tijuana out of the USA. I was in a failing dead end relationship and I hated my job. So I did what any person would do in my situation... I joined the Peace Corps. I had finally realized that I wanted to travel more than anything else in my life. Since I had a vast background in French (err 2 years of high school french ten years before) I was sent to sorta-french speaking Mali as a water/sanitation engineer.  Think about that... My first real trip out of the USA was Mali, West Africa, talk about jumping into the travel thing with both feet!

TOUBAB, TOUBAB. Oh the joys of have your very own pack of children following you everywhere screaming "here come a white person"

Peace Corps is a challenging experience and it is even more challenging if you are placed in a "skilled" profession like I was. I think the nurses, accountants and engineers have expectations of what working is. And it can be hard to throw those out the window as you adjust to a work rhythm that is much, MUCH slower.  And in a different language and culture. Because back then we jokingly called Mali "Muslim Lite". When I was there they generally practiced a very tolerant form of Islam that incorporated a lot of animism. And I must say Malians are one of the more tolerant accepting people (from a religious perspective) that I have experienced.

What newly minted Peace Corps volunteers look like, in this case Water Sanitation Mali volunteers, circa 2000.

But I managed to survived and I was placed in the south of the county in the large city of Sikasso. And this was where my life long <<<MANGO>>> addiction was born. Oh the joys of small mangos and big mangos and everything in between. During mango season I would literally consume mangos at every meal, up to 20 a day. I also got competent in using the local transportation (see bachee picture below) and took a number of trips around Mali and even around West Africa. Some solo and some with friend(s).

Oh the wonders of the african bush taxi, called a bachee in Mali. Can you find Becky? I would guess this one had about 20-25 people in it for the 5? hour trip from Burkina Faso to Sikasso Mali.

My host family fixing lunch under the mango tree, Sikasso Mali.

Before I left in late 2001, I decided that I needed to see the northern part of the county. So I took a two week trip to the north and visited Mopti, Tombouktou, and Gao.  Two of these cities are now under the control of Islamic extremists and there are reports that they are enforcing sharia law.  Not to mention the kidnapping of westerners and the total collapse of any tourism here.

This was an amazing, once in a lifetime trip that I still think about all the time. I took passage on a river boat up the Niger River from Mopti to Tombouktou. It was one of the overcrowded, local transport boats and the trip (If I remember correctly) took about 3 days. There were a few other westerners on the boat and it was amazing to see the village life along the river.  Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this trip. I must have lost my camera (note this is pre-digital so all these photos were scanned).

How african mothers tote their babies around.

I spent a couple days in Tombouktou. If you ever get the chance to go to the middle of the Sahara desert GO! Because Tombouktou is probably 1000 miles from the nearest city. In all directions. So the night sky is free from almost all light pollution and you can see galaxies with the naked eye. I laid on the roof of my hotel for hours watching the night sky. It is easily in the top 5 most amazing things I have ever seen.

Then I joined with some other travelers and we hired a boat to take us the rest of the way to Gao on the Niger river. We saw hippos and fishermen and followed the river as it winds up through the Sahara Desert. We stopped at villages on the way and climbed huge sand dunes.
All in all it is one of those amazing trips that everyone should take. Err at least before. Now there are westerner kidnappings in this area and fighting and the tourism is gone. So I mourn the loss for the Malian people and for the stability of West Africa and also for the hope in me that someday I could take my daughter to Mali and show her the place I became a world traveler. I keep my fingers crossed that the world intervention can restore the democracy of this great country before my friends and ex-neighbors suffer too much.