Mali Days 4-6 - Pinasse on the Niger River to Timbuktu

Unloading the car in Mopti and taking one the the hundreds of pinasses up the river. We somehow managed to pick the coldest, windiest day on record to set sail (even the locals complained about the cold) So we all hunkered down under layers of clothes and sleeping bags and slept on the deck of the boat safely out of the wind.

What's a pinasse you ask? That's a pinasse. Toilet and out board at the back, kitchen table in the middle, a couple of couches, and the fuel tank at the front (optional sunbed on roof). Able to travel at walking pace for long periods of time. The driver and his first mate slept of the boat, but we pitched tents on the banks.

Enjoying a cup of tea

All meals were on the pinasse, so all you had to do was flag down a local fisherman, buy some of their latest catch, avoid being over-run by his children, and voi-la - dinner!!

The boys did amazingly well with just a little charcoal burner to come up with beautiful fish stews with rice or couscous. after a while you get sick of the Malian tourist staple of rice or couscous so we rebelled when we stopped at a small port town for supplies and got some plantains and goat meat (a more Nigerian diet). I think even the boat guys were happy with the change. The river fish was excellent, but there's only so many ways you can cook fish for lunch and dinner on a small canoe....

George and Todd enjoying the sunset (and the cold) - We actually purchased a couple of beanies in Mopti as it was so cold. In Nigeria one doesn't tend to keep any clothes that would make you warm (unless you're going somewhere where the air con's on full-bore...)

As you approach the vast inland delta of Lake Debo, your surrounded by miles of shallow reeds and the river narrows from the massive up to 1km wide beast into a hundred little streams just wide enough to turn a canoe. Luckily the boat driver seemed to know where he was going.

As well as fish, the locals here survive on the lucrative flocks of small birds that live in the swamps and rice paddies that the villagers have planted (you can see the cut rice and thatched huts in the background). So as the sun goes down and flocks of birds fly about the locals put up fishing nets to catch them - yes the black things in the net are birds. Not much to them, but apparently tastes like chicken...

Harmattan always makes for a good sunrise
(the rest of the day is dusty and cold, but sunrises are always pretty)

When your way is blocked by a river than can be over 1km wide, everyone and everything has to cross by canoe. That includes motorbikes, goats, donkeys and people...

This place is so flat you can travel for miles with the right transportation

Unfortunately, as it's so flat (and the river wide) it can get really windy and quite choppy

A slow boat heading towards Timbuktu with bags of rice



Each night we set up camp on the banks of the river.
As most of our crap was still on the boat, it was actually quite easy each day.

Our guide, Mamadou (or Mama-don't as he's affectionately known) relaxing under the cover of the kitchen table out of the cold.

One of the many bozo villages lining the river

Even though the river is so large, vegetation does spread far from it's banks into the desert so local herders tend to stay close