DAY 1 - Christmas Eve, 24th December 2006

BAMAKO - anticipating chaos, a delightful surprise as Bamako Airport turns out to become my smoothest airport exit yet, now beating even the Germans (Lübeck) and the Syrians (Damascus). Went like this: walked off the plane, man in box exchanges our Euros for local currency, half asleep security men stamp our passports without even looking at us, another half asleep man looks at our Yellow Fever certificates, our luggage appears straight away on the conveyor belt right in front of us, a taxi man comes over and then whisks us speedily to our hotel located right in central Bamako - 2 swimming pools, one tennis court, internet, money exchange etc. By any standards a decent choice of comfort to begin the proceedings but likely one that will not be experienced at this level again as we journey on into the wilderness and our ultimate goal - the Dogon tribes people of the Bandiagara Mountains. And for others, a journey to the unofficial end of the world - Timbuktu.

DAY 2 - Christmas Day, 25th December 2006

"Merry Christmas", "Joyeux Noel". A colourfully decorated Christmas tree stands proudly in the centre of the spacious lobby of the Grand Hotel. For a predominantly Muslim country they demonstrate some flexibility to incorporate the Christmas spirit into the proceedings - shame that many who come here at this time of year are probably actually attempting to escape Christmas!

Friendly, smiley, chatty folk that make our first contact of Malian people give substance to the rumours of this as the friendliest of the African nations, the largest in West Africa and five times the size of the UK. It makes me think of Syria or Scotland for it's warm natured people. Incidentally it was a Scottish explorer Mungo Park who came across the youthful Bamako in the early nineteenth century - did he perhaps leave his mark?

Time to greet Mali proper, as we exit our Westernised sanctuary and hit the city streets of Bamako. The scene appears unexpectedly relaxed. Indeed the streets are filled with people and traffic but there is a sense of calmness as people and traffic flow smoothly along their designated ways. An orange dust covers the city - sand from the Sahara. This and what is eminating from vehicle exhausts is not what one would exactly describe as similar in any way to good clean mountain air, however, bordering the River Niger and with an abundance of trees lining the streets, there is a comforting if contrasting lushness of nature against the excessive trappings of man.

A further intriguing contrast is observed in that whilst this is a world away from dripping in affluence with makeshift food and supply stalls lining the roadsides and local folk are dressed mostly in what must well be first world hand-me-downs, the cars look contradicterally modern and even quite posh - Mercedes, Toyotas, Land Rovers... We continue in the direction southwards towards the River Niger, passing a number of monuments commemorating various pivotal national events, and arriving at Mali's top hotel L'Amitie even more grand than our Grand Hotel, nestled on the banks of the Niger. We head straight to the 14th floor from where a commanding vista of Bamako is our reward. A short stroll to the opposite side of L'Amitie greets us with her majesty the Niger and her two bridges that form the arteries that connect Bamako with it's international airport and national bus station.

We then meander through the orange dust city to the Mandé Hotel where Michael Palin had his Sahara sejourn for the BBC TV Series "Sahara". Green gardens on the banks of the Niger and a restaurant on stilts over the river made for a perfect setting from which to watch the sun duck it's head down for the night. This and fish soup followed by fillet of fish dinner caught straight from the river - c'etait parfait, vraiment (It was truly perfect).

VIDEO - Click The Play Button (Bamako - view from Hotel L'Amitié)