Hitchhikers

Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, but fuel prices are not much different to Ireland - 82c per litre for diesel and almost €1 for petrol. I expect this is because of the cost of trucking it in on poor roads from the Atlantic coast in Ivory Coast or Senegal. There is little motor traffic - government or NGO Toyota Land Cruisers; some heavily laden trucks, often broken down; and a variety of decrepit buses. It is much more common to see people walking, in donkey carts, or - especially here in the North - on camel or horseback. 

We pick people up whenever feasible. One fine gentleman sat into the car and announced that he was Baobucar Cisské, the Grand Marabout and Grand Imam of Hamdallaye, a historic town north of Djenne. The next day, we stopped in the middle of nowhere for a young man who spoke surprisingly good English. He was a Nigerian footballer who had come to play in Mopti, but for some reason the job had fallen through, and now he was penniless and walking to Bamako. It was about 45˚C and he'd covered over 40 miles from Mopti since the previous day. He promised to remember us when he is playing for Chelsea. 

The group in the photo were near the Dogon village of Yenndouma, returning from market with a heavy sack.