Very easy, although you have to accept plenty of delays. There is a tourist industry, but it's very sharply divided between facilities for expats and NGO workers, and various levels of organised tours. We were very unusual as independent travellers. This, plus the fact that the local population tends not to travel much, means that in most cases you're stuck with tourist-specific transport or very very slow local stuff. Tourist transport is viciously expensive, and utterly unreliable. You can do a tour, but what we saw of them was kind of lame - we did just as well alone.

As to what we did - we were there for 4 weeks, of which we spent a week (in all) sitting by the pool in a nice hotel. We flew into the capital, Bamako, which is fantastic, both as an introduction to Africa, and for its own sake. If you like tropical cities, which I do.

After a day in B, we went up to Segou, a river-port on the Niger (everything is on the Niger - it's the only source of life in the country), where we went to the market, and visited a small, village of potters. Then to Mopti, which rocks - it's the central port, and has an amzing dockside market. That was our base for the whole trip, but we spent a few days in Djenne (I hated it, but it's amazing - the World's biggest MudBuilding(TM) is there), and the Dogon country (walking, escarpments like in The Lost World). The highlight, without doubt, was Timbuktu. We flew up there, and spent 2 days in the city, which is just bizarre - it's the nearest thing to Mos Eisley you're likely to find, from the Tuaregs to the sand-filled streets. Then we spent 3 days drifting down the Niger in an open wooden boat to Mopti, and saw hippos, which was amazing.

There are some (unlabelled and unsorted, sorry) photos here

All in all it was pretty awesome, although much the hardest travel, emotionally, I've ever done.

Jim, I can't get to your pictures--that link just takes me to the main Fotopic page.

It sounds like an amazing trip! Especially the part about drifting down the Niger. That's so exciting.

You can do a tour, but what we saw of them was kind of lame - we did just as well alone.

That was mostly my experience in Africa as well (I travelled through southern Africa with a few friends in 2002).

Shit! I missed the season premiere of Angel last week!

Gunn now has stupid hair and learnt all of Gilbert and Sullivan

Gunn's head now has added texture, is all.

Hi fellow Aussies and all, I think I'm back (computer wise) on a more stable basis, here's hoping.

Congratulations Jim, and I'm pouting 'cos I can't see the pictures either but it sounds like a fabulous trip.

Evil jimi, bugger, me too, and insent to your profile address.

ita, I didn't finish sending you all the pics I'd been collecting for your birthday. I'll locate them amongst the ruins of the old computer and send them soon.

Shit! I missed the season premiere of Angel last week!

Evil jimi, bugger, me too

Damn, if I'd logged on yesterday I could have told you they repeated it at 11pm last night because the reception went wonky in many areas of Sydney last week. On the bright side, they did it on the basis of fan reaction, so it seems Channel 7 have a human being working for them who's only disguised as an axe-wielding robot with a default program of C:ProgramFiles/Screw Viewers/EatPuppies.exe.

I liked the premiere and look forward to the rest of the season.

Aussies--we're captioning a series called "Kath & Kim." It was a hit there, yes? A very unusual mixture of broad sketch comedy and very spot-on human moments.

Aussies--we're captioning a series called "Kath & Kim." It was a hit there, yes? A very unusual mixture of broad sketch comedy and very spot-on human moments.

Yep. Friends of ours sent us all of season 1 on video. I didn't know whether to laugh or be appalled for a long time. (I eventually decided to go with it.) They also sent us season 2 on DVD. Now if only we had a DVD player...

So you get to caption it? Lucky you. I wondered how the yumour [sic] would translate to an American audience.

Aussies--we're captioning a series called "Kath & Kim." It was a hit there, yes? A very unusual mixture of broad sketch comedy and very spot-on human moments.

Like BT (hows things going maaate), I too wasn't sure whether to cringe or laugh, the obvious word twists and mis-pronunciations get a little annoying when they're being repeated for the umpteenth time, but the behaviour and the lifestyle played so matter-of-factly, and the so-true-of-lots-of-people-everywhere-you-look factor got me by halfway through the season.

Bugger again Emlah, I know that I checked the Tv guide yesterday but I guess it was done before the 7 execs made the decision.