Mali Transportation

You can pay a ticket for a pirogue transport to Bakel in Senegal. Great trip - remember water

If you are travelling form Ivory Coast to Mali you will have to change bus in Manankoro (customs, etc). Here some tips for your stay there:

First thing: get your ticket for the rest of the journey to Mali immediately! just follow the others and ask people where the ticket seller is sitting. they usually know better then you...

Talk with the 'apprentis' (young people working for the bus company and travelling on the back or top of the bus) and they will help you through all the formalities. Additionally, you'll probably have to sleep there - somewhere. Again, ask the apprentis if you can sleep in the bus with them. As it can get cold overnight, you need a sheet or warm clothes. You are not allowed to take any luggage down from the bus, so think of it before you leave in the Ivory Coast.

You can eat stew at the 'restoroute' for 500 FCFA or so, just follow the crowd.

There are basically two options as far as getting to Gao, you will either go via the Niger or via the road.  Between Mopti/Sevare and Gao you really need to take a bus but between Timbuktu and Gao you can choose to either take a boat down the Niger River or take a 4WD through the Sahara.  The river option is great if you have a few days and can either coordinate it with the Comanav ferry or have enough spare cash to hire your own boat, otherwise you're looking at a very long, fairly uncomfortable, but kind of cool 4WD trip through the desert in the middle of the night.  Getting to and from Gao is nothing if not an adventure!

Senou is the International Airport in Bamako. Small and easy to find yourself around. You should still be careful at night when there's no big airline flight, especially at the outskirts of the airports and outside of the airport area if you look for a local taxi.

www.ibrahimadiabate.com www.sokura.com transportation: recommended: sotrama