The Manding Highlands: Bamako to Kayes

S on the trail


A trés beau camping spot

Lunch at an abandoned
railway station


Helping friends out on the trail
- our latest bike pump, Senor Jose.
RIP, Jumbo Joe

It's a rainy morning in Kayes, a hub for transport in the north-west corner of Mali. Our first proper rainy day in almost two years and a strange ending to our time in sub-saharan West Africa. From here we'll move up and out through Mauritania and into Morocco - a journey that will likely see very little of us on the bikes due to the heat, sand and long, isolated stretches of road. So the past week of cycling has marked the close of this stage of the trip. We have travelled through the Manding Highlands with its wonderful forested escarpment, following the Bayole River until it converged with the Bafing to become the Senegal. The area was bursting full with the most extraordinary birds and one day a monkey even ran across the trail in front of us. Many of the villages we cycled through were quite isolated and given the state of the "road" almost entirely dependent on the rail line that passes through the area. The trail was rough (quite fitting with all of the others we rode in Mali) with sections that required us to push/carry our bikes over rocks and rivers. The journey was by no means easy, but brought with it some of the most rewarding riding in Mali.

7 Reflections from the Manding Highlands

1. There is no such thing as the right path, it is best to just pick one and see what it brings.
2. Bad days happen and it is best just to ride them out as calmly as possible because...
3. When you least expect it the world will reveal to you something of unimaginable beauty.
4. The most magnificent places are never the ones which are easily accessed.
5. You can make and eat almost anything from a Nalgene.
6. Many things we will never understand, but perhaps it is more important how we deal with our lack of understanding than trying to understand everything.
7. There is no hurry, there is no where to get to and nothing that must be seen beyond where you are at this moment.