AN ADVENTURE ON THE EDGE

  After an hour on a cosy bus, my partner in crime, Daniel Charles, and I found ourselves in a place named Siby, a town, which in western proportion would be but a village. Distracted by the beautiful people and food in central Siby, Dan and I never set off for our desired destination until darkness had fallen.

  Refusing to navigate with torches, we slowly meandered through unknown paths by moonlight, taking unknown guessed shortcuts until a few hours later, we eventually reached the natural arch, or bridge ... and we all know how fond I am of bridges!
  Setting up camp under the arch, on a tall cliff edge, we slowly drifted off to the sound of the traditional Malian music in the Friday night festivities below us in the Town.

  After waking to watch the sun rise with two friends we made on the journey made during the previous night, predictably, the bridge was climbed. The view was more spectacular than we could have imagined.

  Having hiked back to Siby, with the full day ahead of us it seemed sensible to hire bikes, and cycle in sub-Sahara Africa, through the hottest part of the day, without cover, for seven hours. Dan and our new found friend from Peace Cops cycled well, and did even better at encouraging me to keep on the bike and keep up. They continued the hard work until we reached the waterfall.

  Now missing a tent pole, we managed to set our tent up on a square rock surrounded by water. After a campfire and picnic under the tree canopy, we once again drifted off to sleep on the edge, this time lulled by the gently crashing and splashing waterfall.

  Being less dehydrated, the journey home went far quicker. This may also have been due to it being mostly downhill!

More Malian adventures HERE !