Buried Gazebo

This is what I came back to from Sierra Leone. The bbq was entirely gone!

Brien's awesome lamb shank

He cooked this for me... a practice date.

Shopping Cart

Coming back from Treo with Brien after another snow storm.

Freetown Bball

There was a big bball tournament on my last day in Freetown. I gave "coach"--an old guy who used to coach the national team--my basketball for his team and he was thrilled. The players were surprisingly good... their best player Pippo lived on our street and always wore a Toronto Raptors jersey... Vince Carter.

River No.2

This is probably the nicest beach in Freetown, about 45 minutes away. I prefer Lakka though, but it is almost totally deserted. Tourism would really do well here if the infrastructure and other problems could be addressed.

Freetown Market

We spent the 2nd last day walking around Freetown taking pictures. I love that Fat Albert-like bubble gum sign.

Rock-breaking story

One of the last stories I did was with Mohammed Jimmy about the hundreds of men women and children who break rocks into gravel for a living. It turns out most of them are farmers who can earn a better living coming to Freetown to do that than they can growing crops in the provinces. Sadly this was yet another story that never came to fruition because the journalist didn't put any effort into finishing it.

Garbage Beach

This garbage--which lasted for about a week--washed up one day. They claim it was from Guinea. It was full of needles and other hospital waste. I felt bad because it was the first day the new JHR trainers arrived and we took them to the beach to show them how awesome they were. Awesome indeed.

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.