The arrival of the Kankou Moussa

After a few days maxin' and relaxin' in the Mission (and a good dose of Nurfloxen), we were all ready for the three-day boat trip up the river Niger to Timbuktu. We arrived at 9am on Thursday to get assigned our cabin and were told that the COMANAV ferry would be a little late. After a long, long breakfast at the Bissap Cafè, where the bissap was 500 CFA and not fantastic, whereas there was a girl selling bissap in bags outside for 25 CFA and it was great, we left Barney to sleep off the tail-end of his illness in the office and went for a wander. We followed the river north and ended up going to a hotel we were planning on going to before the illness, mainly because it had a pool. After seeing said pool, and feeling a little sad, we sat down with a Pamplemousse (grapefruit drink) each and tried playing an African tribal game, solewhat like checkers. Kez thought she knew the rules from a game on her old mobile, and we kind of figured it out.

After seeing another sunset over the river, we bought toilet roll and water - expecting neither on the ferry - and headed back to the office. Barney had got chatting to a couple of other people who were awaiting the arrival of the Kankou Moussa (largest of the COMANAV ferry fleet) and our home for the next three days.

Sam was originally from St Albans and was working for 14 months in Ghana for an education programme. He had bought a motorbike and decided to dirve back through West Africa on the way home for Christmas. Mathilda (Tilly) was a Swedish, blonde 20 year old who had lived in America for a couple of years and had picked up a Southern drawl ("Y'all", "Po-lise" etc). They had met at the hotel and decided it would be cheaper to share a room (sorry, cabin) on the ferry.

On board the ferries, there are five classes - luxè, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. For two nights and three days' accomodation, we had chosen a four-person berth for 36000 CFA each (about £50 each). Sam and Mathilda had gone for 1st class. The cheapest alternative was 4th class, which basically meant sleeping on the bottom floor of the boat, where you had to find a space and had nowhere to keep any belongings. This is where a lot of the Malian's stayed, and there were even some women cooking there. There were some German (possibly) bird watchers who had set up camp on the roof for the same price as 4th class (5500 CFA - £8). We debated doing 4th class, but you didnt have any bed, anywhere to put anything and had no meals. A cabin it was!

The Kankou Moussa came into view about 8pm and circled round to the dock. We got on and found our cabin, before standing on the sides, watching the loading of various things from the shore - amongst them about 40 metric tonnes of cement; 800 bags at 50kg each - if the maths is wrong, blame Kez, she has done some building work don't-cha-know! Standing in the dark, watching the cement and other products getting loaded on, we met Andrè and Ruth - a couple from South Africa on a two week tour of Mali. The ferry took a few hours to load up, putting fuel in and finally loading Sam's incredibly heavby bike on board - Sam checking it had been secured properly a few times!