Bamako, Mali (2)

So here are some impressions following 4 days in Bamako, capital of Mali.

The hotel itself, grand though it is, is reasonably priced. That is compared to other hotels in Africa I have stayed in. The currency is about 60 francs to the rand and rooms are about 60 000 francs a night, minus breakfast. That may not sound reasonably but hotels in Dar es Salaam and Maputo where I stayed charge a lot more. R1000 a night is not bad. Even the dump near the airport in Johannesburg where I sometimes stay when I just need a convenient overnight charges more than that.

What has surprised me is the price of the food. I sat at the pool this afternoon and had two Cokes. That cost 3000 francs, R50. In similar circumstances in SA I guess I might be charged R20, maybe R30. But not R50. Breakfast this morning was 11000 francs. That is about R200. I find that outlandish. But one has to eat.

The climate suits me. It is hot during the day but not humid so it is a lot more bearable than for example Dar es Salaam. This afternoon there were swallows everywhere and clouds overhead, with a bit of a wind, but nothing came of it and this evening was calm and beautiful. I guess it is not the rainy season. I am comfortable sleeping without the aircon at night, but one doesn't need any blankets. I had a look in Wikipedia. December is the coolest month of the year with average minimum of 14 Celsius and maximum of 33. You don't want to be here in 6 months time!

Few Malians speak any English, I discovered. Even those in academia. The very senior people do, but not the rank and file. The lingua franca is French and the local language here is Bambara, Clearly one would need to learn French to live or work here. At present mine extends to good day, good night and thank you. The cleaner came in here this morning and asked me about 5 times something about the TV. I tried to understand - I thought they were telling me there was something wrong with it and that they wanted to bring me a new one. So I grunted and nodded and said OK and "bon". Funny how when you're searching for a word in a language you don't know very well, words from other non-English languages pop into your head. With me it is usually Zulu. I kept wanting to say to her "lungile" which means "OK" in Zulu. Odd that. Finally she gave up in exasperation and said to her colleague something about "anglais" and they exited. I still don't know what they wanted.

The president of the country came to open our conference, which impressed me. Back in SA it is difficult even getting the provincial premier to do something like that - most of them are far too high and mighty. He spoke in French, I have no idea what he said, but he seemed very nice. A local colleague told me that he led a successful coup d'etat many years ago, then retired from politics but was persuaded to come out of retirement to run for office and won with a landslide victory. He is reportedly energetic and popular. I shall have to read up on the man.

I haven't had much chance to get out and look around. I was taken to two hospitals on my second day here. I think the best phrase to describe them is "struggling but optimistic". I saw old buildings fitted out with new equipment. I saw patients housed in Red Cross tents because wards were being renovated. The tents were pitched in the middle of what looked like the parking lot. I saw some seriously and chronically ill patients with TB and HIV, but they looked cared for and spoke hopefully about getting better. I didn't get the feeling that they had been abandoned to their own resources, just that the resources which are available are limited.

The city itself has a feeling of space, something I haven't found in e.g. Nairobi or even Cape Town. I haven't felt crowded in here - it feels like one is in a busy town but one can see "the country" not that far away and there aren't throngs upon throngs of people and vehicles pressing in from every side. I think that is it - this is a very large country, although the top half is mainly Sahara Desert I think, but the total population is only about 13 million people.

Tonight we were taken to the National Museum - they had obtained special permission for us to have a tour outside of normal hours - followed by traditional Malian food and music in the grounds of the museum. The museum tour was very interesting. Their exhibits predate anything we have in SA by centuries. One of the more interesting objets d'arte was a burial urn. About the size of a laundry basket I suppose. They explained that because the area it comes from is very wet and the water table there very high, when they buried people they first placed them in these clay pots, in the foetal position, so that they would be protected from the water. Probably makes good public health sense as well. I thought it sounded quite comforting to end life as one began it, going back to the womb as it were.

The music was in two parts. The band came from the south of the country - I forget the details. To start with the line up consisted of drums, bass, 2 electric guitars, an traditional but amplified stringed instrument like a violin, and a couple of female vocalists / dancers. The music was traditional but the lead guitarist's riffs reminded me mostly of Jimi Hendrix! I spoke to a few other guests and several of them agreed. Wondered whether Hendrix ever visited here. The singing was OK but a bit shrieky - evidently that is the accepted style. Then they moved in two large marimba's and some bongo drums. These guys were truly amazing - I had no idea marimba's could be played like that. And the vocals now were male - the lead had a really good tenor voice, and what was more amazing he managed to sing these rather complicated tunes while hammering away on the marimba. Really good. Hope to get one of their CD's tomorrow as a momento. They deserve to go far (and I don't mean the farther the better).