Afrikisurf – A surf trip to West Africa

A long journey, 1500km from one capital city to the next one. Crossing the Senegal via Tambacounda wasn’t very spectacular, the landscape remained similar and it just got hotter and hotter the further we came. Leaving the Senegal was the easiest thing ever, no problems at all with our stack of papers. Until this point we were still not sure wether it will work out or if we need to call some people at the customs in Dakar again. Entering Mali was even easier, all in all it took less than one and a half hours for the crossing including getting the Visas and Laisser-Passer for Mali.
It was still all the same, huge Baobabs everywhere, dusty and hot with temperatures around 42 degrees. Passed Kayes and decided to take a route that most people wouldn’t take, shorter than the regular one but we ended up driving four hundred km of piste which took us a couple of days driving. We discovered what we would never have expected, a beautiful trip along the river Senegal, driving from one amazing spot to the next one. Waterfalls and rapids, rocks to jump off and warm water. Where the piste is close to the river it’s all green and people grow a lot of vegetables and fruits, cheap and good. Huge Mangotrees with Mangos about to be ripe, papayas and bananas everywhere. This is one of the dustiest pistes so far, similar to the north of Guinea. It gets everywhere, skin and hair are red after some time, everything in the car is covered in dust and after every drive we needed to clean the inside of the car. But this didn’t really matter, several times a day we jumped into the rivers, only had to make sure there’s no crocodiles, hippos or snakes in the water. Great people all over, somehow Malians are funnier than other people and their way of greeting and having fun is truly inspiring. Now we know why most overlanders go to Mali and Burkina Faso, it’s all easy and without hassles and problems, just how it should be for a traveller.
Temperatures were still rising, 44 degrees when we arrived in Bamako. Came here a bit late, had to find a place to stay when it was dark already, not the best start to arrive in a big city. Only stayed two nights, it is just too hot here and the dust and pollution do not really make it any better. But again, the Malians are nice and we found the right spot to stay, a place run by nuns and very quiet for beeing right in the centre. You step out of the gate and you are right in the middle of day-to-day life, with good food everywhere. Kids run around, traffic is crazy and during the day most of the people try to find some shade. For us it is time to move on, towards the east to Ségou, then south of it to the very west of Burkina Faso for some days. Isn’t that the best name ever for a country? It’s gotta be good after all the things we heard from there…