With the Nuns in Bamako

During the coach ride there were a couple of toilet stops by the side of the road, which only seemed to last twenty seconds before the bus started to pull away! And then the bus accelerated to about 90mph and did a 'Speed' thing, overtaking huge lorries on bends etc. Pretty hairy. Made it to the Malian capital in one piece, and got taken to the Catholic Mission - Fouers des Souers (I think) - bang in the centre of Bamako.

The nuns were really nice and friendly, and we sorted out a room for us three for the Saturday, and then hopefully for us four on the Monday - after Dree had romanced Kerry in a hotel for an eve! Aw, love is alive! We had a little shower in the room (like only a curtain to shield from the beds), and could use a gas cooker and a little kitchen if we wanted to. Here began a bit of a love affair with tea and condensed milk. Oh God, Condensed Milk - deserves the capitals!

The next day Dree left early to check into his hotel and get to the airport, while me and Barney had a nice couple's day. Unfortunately everything was shut. It had rained for about ten hours by the time we got up, and after a walk around most of the district we discovered everything was closed as it was Sunday. So we played chess and a few other games that were in the Mission, as well as inventing Speed Chess - you have not time to think about the pieces, just move one straight-away. It continued to rain for about 30 hours. We couldn't even get some street food, as we had done the first night, as the rain had closed them all! A very lazy day in Bamako. I even learnt some French!

The next morning Dree and Kez arrived back at the Mission and we organised the room for us four, Kez was on the floor as she lost the game of cards - sorry old girl, rules is rules! We went and got a really good breakfast from a Vietnamese woman by the roadside - half a baguette with meat, sausage, salad, mayo, soy sauce and ketchup. Definitely one up from an omlette sandwich! Afterwards we tried to walk across town to the Ghanian embassy to get Kez and myself our visas - the boys had got theirs in London beforehand, but ours had been rejected for an unknown reason. Couldn't find it after half an hour walking around the backstreets of Bamako, and resorted to a taxi. The maps in Bradt guides seem to be out of scale and miss out roads and landmarks. Not overly impressed, although the information in them is far better than LP or Rough Guides.

After filling out the forms four times (do they not have a photocopier?!), which we ended up paying less for the visas than the boys, we hopped in a taxi to see the Museè National - apparently one of the best in West Africa. We were just hoping better than Dakar's museum that was hardly worth visiting. The taxi driver dropped us off and we then found out it is shut every Monday. What a lovely taxi drive. No problems, as we walked the hundred metres or so to the Parc Zoologique.

I always am a bit wary about zoo's in foreign countries and rarely go into them, as the conditions of the animals and cages is usually awful - Chiang Mai Zoo in north Thailand being one of the better ones. We saw quite a variety on our walk round: an apparently dead baby elephant (only sleeping), lots of monkeys and chimps (Kez spilt purple bissap down a white top in excitement!), hyenas, deer, birds and cranes, a warthog, leopards and lions. We then went into the reptile hut, which Barney was very happy about, and saw various crocs, frogs, turtles and snakes. They were actually feeding two giant African Rock Pythons as we came in, with live chickens. A bit sadistic, like that tour in the Mekong, Pete, but one of the staff held the door open so I could go in and take some close up pics without the safety of the glass. Pretty nerve-racking but you don't get that at Banham Zoo! Also saw the world's bravest frog, sitting on top of a croc's head! Just before we left there was also a sign for a manatee, but all the pools were long dried out.

We trekked back to the Mission via the downtown area and ate at a vegetarian place opposite. The chef and proprietor, Mohammed, spoke good English and he showed us some pics on his iPhone of a lovely waterfall at Talenko, just outside Bamako. We got some details and added it to our list of places to see!