Africa 2006

Timbuktu is the Hotel California; you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

Brenna, David (the Ottawa couple I had met a few days earlier) and I met two Americans on our final morning in Timbuktu. They were looking for transport to leave and agreed to share the pinasse back along the Niger River with us to save on costs.

Our pinasse and driver finally showed up at 4pm on the scheduled day of departure, effectively ensuring that we would not be able to leave for another day. Then he demanded twice the already agreed price for “extra fuel”.

We argued and debated but he wouldn’t budge. And neither would I (especially since we had found two extra paying people for him). So we had to abandon the romantic option of leaving Timbuktu.

A search ensued to find alternative transport back to Mopti. Then we discovered that our friendly guide, Kalil, is some sort of Godfather of Timbuktu - once you’re working with him, nothing gets achieved without his approval. So offers for 4×4 were recalled when people found out we were connected to Kalil.

Eventually, after many hours of protracted negotiations and debates (at one desperate point, and to lighten the mood, I said we would pay 5000 less per person if David promised not to sing in the car), we found a driver to take us back to Timbuktu.

The five of us spent our last night it Hotel California sleeping on the roof (we were all short on cash and the banks were all closed for the end of Ramadan), listening to the sounds of the all night party commemorating the festival.

After two flat tires en route back, we finally escaped back to Mopti.

It may not have been the romantic option, but we certainly had the effort that seems to be a pre-requisite for visiting this fabled city.