Village Welcome

We got an incredible welcome when we arrived--the entire village came out to play music and dance. For many of them we were probably the first white people they'd seen.

Little Me

This little guy was on the airport shuttle in Dakar... I've never seen anyone who looked as much like me as a kid!

Hello, can I help you?

This woman's head was poking over the counter... I thought she was alive so I went and asked her for directions... not realizing that she was a cardboard cutout!

My favourite breakfast in Dakar

These crêpes at Les Ambassades in Dakar are my favourite of all time. Cheese and ham, plenty of butter, and of course their super-thick hot chocolate.

Dakar iPod McGyver

Because of the stupid non-standardized plugs, even the ones we had that were supposed to work didn't, so I had to be very creative in order to charge anything.

Dakar Airport

Frustrating day at the airport... our plane to Freetown was delayed and delayed and we got no information from the airport or the airline until we stormed up to the office.

Paintings in Mali for Nicky

This enormous painting in a Bamako gallery/restaurant I thought would make a great wedding present, but sadly they weren't selling it.

Bamako Record Shop

On my last day in Bamako, went to the one record shop in the country that was endorsed by the artists themselves... most CDs sold are bootleg so at this store they were actually legitimate. And the CDs were actually cheaper than they were on the street.

Jenn at Thai restaurant

Leaving Timbuktu

The colours of the sky were beautiful as we left Essekane towards Timbuktu and Ségou.

Festival in the Desert

We were lucky in the press area to have a couple of private concerts which the BBC was filming... Khaira Arby and in this picture Abdoulaye Diabaté. Also it was incredible coming from powerless Freetown that in the middle of the desert they were able to rig electricity even to our press area.

The Festival

There weren't really any big name acts other than Abdulaye Diabaté that I'd heard of, but it was an opportunity to discover new music like the strange and haunting Tuareg music.

Our tent

The inside and outside of our home for the next 3 days. Hats were a must in the blazing sun. During the day it was too hot to go inside the tent, so the shade provided by the outside of the tent was a lifesaver.

Arriving at the Festival

We arrived at the Festival and were asked to haul mattresses for the press... we had our own set of tents. Jenn and I were lucky enough to have one to ourselves, which was awesome, as some people slept seven to a tent!

Timbuktu

Timbuktu was surprisingly plain... there was even an internet café, and surprisingly cheap! I sent Ken a birthday email from there which he never got.

Crossing to Timbuktu

We escaped a car lineup a mile long and got into a pirogue, or pinasse (pronounced Penis!) and slowly boated to Timbuktu. Had a row with the guy who picked us up, who thought he was getting paid but it had all supposedly been arranged by Ali. Things seemed as though they were falling apart.

Ségou-Mopti

We had a nice night in Ségou at a hotel run by an American who lived most of his life in Mali. Each room had a regional theme, and the supper--every day something different, was eaten by all the guests at the same time around the table. We put our trust in the fixer Ali who was to get us to the Festival in the Desert in Essekane. We stopped along the way in Mopti at the bank, where I ran into a Leafs fan.

Begnimato Jenn Trekking

It was hot but fun trekking on our last day through Dogon Country.

Kim & Jenn in Yaba-Talu

Poor Jenn was nearly blinded taking this picture in the bright sun.

Leaving Yaba-Talu

To the left, where we stayed... a tiny room that was freezing on a wooden pallet with very little mattress, trying to fit our mosquito nets around it, which didn't really work. One of the worst nights of the trip. Then we left and headed up the cliffs to the scenic village of Begnimato.

Yaba-Tulu

We rode by oxcart through the Dogon to the village of Yaba-Tulu where we stayed. This was one of the only places we saw young men--normally it's just children and old women. They had fun talking and listening to African hiphop.

Dogon Country - Teli

We ate a traditional meal of couscous and veggie sauce up on the roof of one of the clay houses, then went to explore the Dogon cliffs.

Funny Sign

I thought this sign was hilarious, if worrisome.

Hotel La Falaise

This was the inside of our hotel room... I coveted that metal mask keychain and made it my (ultimately successful with Jenn's help) mission to find some.

Birthday Dinner

OK you can't really see anything but this was a very nice grotto in a restaurant not far from the hotel... had a nice a la carte birthday dinner with Jenn.

The Girls

These girls helped get us transport from Djenné to Sévaré. The girl on the right shocked us all in the bus by addressing us in flawless New York English... she had been living there for years and just came back over the holidays to see her cousins.

Djenné

The mosque to the left is the largest clay building in the world. The alleys remind me of Luke's dusty home in Star Wars.

Overloaded Truck

Typical truck in Africa, transporting not only people but overloaded with goods as well.

Djenné Hotel

The courtyard of our hotel in Djenné. I spent the eve of my bday watching the beautiful stars, waiting to cross on the ferry towards the city, and when we got there we (and another couple) took a walk through the dusty streets of Djenné by night... magic.

Malian landscape

Typical landscape through the Malian countryside. It got less green as we went north.

Tuareg Jenn

Convinced she needed a wrap to protect herself from the sun and sand, Jenn bought a local scarf. She looks like a blue Q-Tip.

Breakdown

This bus broke down about 500 meters from the bus station. Everyone else waited for it to be fixed... we gave it an hour and then took one of the more reliable big buses.

Alleys of Bamako

Typical street in Bamako

Bus Stop

We waited at stops like these for most of our trips between cities. Some were in traditional Tuareg dress like the man with the green scarf.

Streets of Dakar

I wondered why there weren't any horses or at least donkeys in Freetown... it seemed so luxurious compared to attaching humans to those carts, which is what they do in Sierra Leone.