Bamako - Djennè

I woke up with an awful cough, as the 'Black Panther' mosquito coil had been burning all night about a foot from the bed. Didn't put me in the best of moods as we prepared to wait by the roadside for a passing minibus to pick us up. But someone was smiling on us that morning, because we only waited for ten minutes before one pulled up. Dree barely had time to finish his cuppa, but the really nice stall owner put the hot tea into a plastic bag, like all the iced drinks are in. And it didn't burn through: impressive.

A short, cramped ride back to Bamako later and we got a taxi to the bigger gare routiere below the river, to try and get a Gana Transport bus to Djennè, our next stop. Unfortunately, the Gana bus had left earlier that morning, but we were shown to another bus company where we bought tickets for a departure at 6pm. Not wanting to hang around all day on a bench in a truly chaotic bus terminal, me and Kez took a walk around trying to find a restaurant or bar. Closest thing we could find was a closed restaurant across the main road, and a Vietnamese sandwich stall.

We spent the day hanging around in the shade of the restaurant, where the owners had kindly given us some chairs and a table, playing cards and generally killing time. Did have a good, cheap-as-you-like lunch though - Vietnamese sandwiches and nems (like meaty spring rolls), and a host of Malian street food to snack on. Oh, and not forgetting more than a few bags of bissap (known as djiblani in some parts of Mali).

We headed back to the transport chaos and were told to pay 1,000 CFA each for our bags. We said no way, as it was just a guy who was trying to make a bit extra, and our bags are included i the cost. After half an hour of a stalemate he relented, and grumpily took our bags to be strapped to the roof. Ah, yes, this brings me onto the bus itself. It was a clapped out old thing that had a fair few tonnes of stuff strapped to the roof - food bags, boxes, motorbikes, chairs etc. This meant that the sunroofs wouldn't open at all. Add to this that the bug-infested, falling apart chairs, DRILLED-SHUT windows and luggage stacked all down the aisles, and we were in for a pretty uncomfortable ride.

Sweating buckets, we sat in this oven for about half an hour before anything happened. That anything was a drive for about forty yards. When we got going properly, there was a small gap in a window at the front of the bus, which at least let some air in. Which was all fine, until the woman behind my and Barney's chairs started vomiting up everything she had. Eventually we were able to drift off to sleep, but were woken up by the lights coming on and the bus sliding to a halt by the roadside. A few of the guys got out, kicked a tyre, got some oil or petrol cans from the aisle and played about with the engine. Then as we drifted off again the lady behind resumed her previous actions. Not going to go on about it too much, but let's just say we will now be going with recommended bus companies for longer trips, especially overnight ones.

At least we were going to get to Djennè that morning....