This morning we started a long drive to Timbuktu. We'll need at
least six days to go 1500 km, mostly along dirt roads, to a place whose
very
name is synonomous with being in the middle of nowhere. On the road we
pass towns like Diourbel, Kaffrine, and Koumpentoum, places that have nice
names
but aren't much to behold, a few dusty streets lined with mudwalled,
one-roomed shacks. Outside of villages the landscape is dry savannah,
yellow
grassland, red clay earth, scattered baobab trees.
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We're traveling with Dragoman, a reputable overland
company. This truck
will carry twenty passengers and two crew. It's a multi-national group:
people from Japan,
Switzerland, Britain, Canada, Denmark, and Australia. |
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Baobab trees, their fibrous wood useless for lumber, provide the
only shade in
a burnt landscape. |
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By afternoon we arrived in Tambacounda, another mud-shack town.
It distinguishes
itself by being a crossroad for travelers going to Mali, Guinea, or The
Gambia. It also
has Internet connectivity that is passably fast.
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This trip is self service: the passengers cook, clean, and set
up their own
tents. The crew charts the course and drives the truck. |
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