To Sevarè

(Dedicated to Trish and Jerry - sorry to keep rabbiting on about transport etc, but its only because we do spend about half our time travelling! But don't worry, we are all having a really amazing trip!)

After a late dinner at a restaurant near La Flamme de la Paix, where a huge group of American tourists were buying "I've been to Timbuktu" t-shirts and hats (clichè), we hit the hay for a 4am wake up. We had to get up so early to make sure we could get onto the first ferry across the Niger and down across the sahel to get a midday bus to Sevarè.

Our 4x4 arrived promptly and we all rolled in half-asleep. Miranda and Shindouke had even got up to see us off - Miranda joked that Timbuktu is the only place in Africa that a vehicle will leave at the time it says! The night before I said I'd come back and do a three-week camel trek with Shindouke with the salt caravans across the Sahara, or come back for the music festival in Essakane, also in the desert. We headed off in the car, myself packed next to a middle-aged French man, as we drove the 20km or so to the ferry crossing, and parked up second-in-line waiting for the dawn ferry.

We were all woken up a few hours later by an idiot shouting "Bonjour" through the window and trying to get us to pay for bags. After the obvious answer, we eventually got onto the ferry, which went for a lot longer than expected across the Niger - I think it's far wider than I thought. On the way across we saw a part submerged sunken ferry, and were unsure whether thats a bad thing because it sunk, or a good thing because its not too deep!

On the other side we travelled in a two car convoy, racing south down a dirt road, savannah on both sides. We realised pretty quickly that the cars travelled in pairs in case of breakdowns. The vehicle in front had two tyre changes because of flats (including using our spare....), as well as other suspension and engine problems, that can probably be traced back to the 4x4s racing through the bush. But it was cool to break down in some pretty out-of-the-way places, and we ended up meeting some goatherds and chilling in some long grass in the midday sun, right next to some impressive mountains.

We made it to Douentza in the late morning and were put onto a proper coach without much wait - Shindouke was good to his word, but glad we checked anyway, as we've been left by the roadside a few times before on this trip. After a few bottles of bissap, we were on our way in possibly the dustiest coach in West Africa. The rear door was open most of the way and we were all a lovely shade of orange when we got off in Sevarè!

We found a taxi as Tilly felt pretty faint and got taken to the Catholic Mission, which is called the Jean Bosco Centre (he was a saint I think). The Centre was like an army barracks with huge dorm blocks in a lot of land, but it was clean, safe and the cheapest place we'd stayed in Africa - 2000 CFA a night, about £2.75! Bargain!