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From: Olivier
Date: 99/10/16
Time: 01:18:24
Remote Name: 206.82.130.54
Incredible no?? The touaregs are playing with internet, (mostly looking at the pink pages, but still...)
....I never thought it could be possible to fly such strange looking aircraft as a trike to the old holy city of the 333 Saint without being jailed!! ...In 1985 this would have been a serious kamikazee enterprise.. ..But this time, it was another story.. I decided to bring Mike to the Great place with the Magical name at any price. I was ready to tough it out on the ground and at last, bribing the officials. ... Arriving over the first touareg settlement bordering the saharian town I felt internal conflicts & worries playing bad with my stomach.. Tombouctou was just a few miles away like a mirage.. My old images of the mystical town of Tombouctou faded with time. I came here 6 times beetwen 1984 and 1988.. And always with faithful (but mostly un-faithful..) Land Rover's .. ... coming from the sky, it is another story.. ..I was expecting difficult time post-landing after taxying to the tower control. But the officials were absolutely easy and helpful.. I could not beleive it but of course did not show it.. The country has changed radicaly in the past years. Mali used to be one of the difficult place to go in West Africa. Dealing with police, custom, and all sort of racketing semi-official bandits (S.M.E.R.T for example. "smert" usually nicknamed "SMERDE" by the pissed off tourists standed for: Societe Malienne d'Exploitation des Ressources Touristiques... They were ferocious sharks... ).. ...This time, arriving from the dusty sky was ten time easier than I expected... What a nice surprise!!.. Tombouctou has not changed a lot otherwise. Except that Internet is there too!! That was somehow shocking... Nothing will stop the progress.. until we blow it all up and start it all again... Funny creatures we are... ..We took an hitch hiker from Tombouctou to Mopti.. A pretty nice young girl from Lithuania (ex Yugoslavia). I tied my bag on Mike's trike and took her on my back seat. We landed in the desert, 60 km from Tombouctou and camped there. We cooked for her a light mixed salad and entertained her in gentleman style.. .. So don't let your imagination be to fertile... ..The morning after we took off at first light and headed 260 km South West to Mopti, another great place. We followed the Niger river for a long while and I must have fantastic pictures of the villages and fishing boats along the way.. We left Ines Sentjurc at the bar of the old falling apart Mopti airport. She had a huge smile on her face. ..She could not beleive what happened to her.. ...We kissed her and took off to Ouagadougou at 12.45. The thermals were quite active....On our way, we passed over the Bandiagara Cliffs where the "Dogon" tribe (one of the most interesting and genuine tribe of the continent).. An other incredible day again... ...Some days like these, I just feel immortal..