Two years late, but I am finally starting a blog about my séjour au Mali!


The first photos are from a trip I took 7-11 march to Manantali and the Bafing "chimp reserve" -- near to the border with Guinea and Senegal. It is one of the last places in Mali where there are still large wild mammals. Lions, baboons, chimps, elan de derby, ... still live there and (we heard lots of stories about them from the villagers!).
It is also one of my favorite places in Mali: incredibly remote and hard to get to, picturesque villages hidden in dry forests, red trails leading to fields and clearings, streams covered in dense vegetation...

(school kids in Koundian)

We went for the final evaluation of a project that aimed to create and strengthen local village committees for the protection of chimps and their habitat against poaching and brush fires. And also "identify" 3 new projects to be funded starting this year: (1) creation of alternative livelihoods to the expanding cash-crop cotton agriculture (including ecotourism and beekeeping), (2) strengthening the capacities of local institutions to manage the natural resources, and (3) raising public awareness about the reserve and the threats.

(Veronique and Pauline in Magadougou "toubabou na na, toubabou na na")



We spent one day driving from Bamako to Manantali (400 km of dirt roads) where we spent the night in the "cité" of the hydro-electric engineers who run the Manantali damn. In Manantali we met the "chef de la Conservation de la Nature" as well as the representative of the NGO that our program funded.



The following day we slowly made our way into the sanctuaire and stopped in 4 villages to hear from the local committees, village chiefs and the mayor about their opinions of the projects. We spent the night in one of the villages (Magadougou) and the following day went to a fifth village from where we hiked to see chimp "nests" and also talk to the committee. That evening we drove back to Manantali. The last day we talked with the mayor and his counsel in another municipality and then later header back to Bamako.

(Final touches on the walls)

(the school in Tiliba)