While travelling to the north from Kayes to the Mauritanian border, the tracks often entered the villages.We liked it allready so much to drive in the rough Sahel landscape, but combined with the visits at all the rural villages in the area, the trip in this part of Mali was really fantastic ! It was very interesting to get a glimpse of the daily rural life. We also recognized different types of architecture in the villages.
Our 22 years old Toyota Landcruiser did a good job at this route from Kayes to Mauritania. Without any problems it conquered al the sandy tracks and the crossings of the deep dry riverbeds. It was not really necessary to use the 4WD during this part of the route, but it was a safe feeling to have a 4WD, just in case.The route in this region of Mali was part of a transsahara trip, we made with two 4WDs of the Dutch organisation Transsahara of Marius Dussel from Leeuwarden. We could drive the cars ourselves or just participate as passenger. The two cars of our trip were this 22-years old Toyota landcruiser and a 18-years old Mitsubishi Pajero. The age of the cars and the rough routes caused mechanical and technical problems later on in Mauritania.
Travelling from Kayes to the north we had to cross several riverbeds. In the southern part of our route they were all dry, but in the north we had to cross some with water.This was the first riverbed, where we saw a bit of water. It was also the first riverbed, where we saw local people, fetching water. They were surprised to see us crossing this river. And we were surprised to see them in the middle of nowhere.
Travelling from Kayes to the north to the Mauritanian border, we passed several villages. It was a very dry and dusty area, we crossed.So our cars produced a lot of dust. While we approached this village, we reduced speed. Anyway the donkey and woman with a bucket at her head had to look at our Dutch cars, coming out of the blue, in the dust.
Travelling in the area north of Kayes there were no roads, only tracks, which were not always even clearly to recognize. We didn't see any other traffic along the route we took.The first vehicle we saw, was this blue truck with troubles. We stopped to talk with the people. The truck was standing here allready for some days. Somebody was on his way to find help somewhere in a nearby village.
We did the trip in the region of Kayes, as part of our transsahara-trip, with two 4WDs of the Dutch organisation Transsahara of Marius Dussel from Leeuwarden. We could drive the cars ourselves or just participate as passenger. The two cars of our trip were a 22-years old Toyota landcruiser and a 18-years old Mitsubishi Pajero. Many parts of our route were off-road, like the area north of Kayes on our way to Kiffa in the south of Mauritania. By using these 4 WDs we didn't encounter any problems to conquer the soft sands and dry riverbeds. The age of the cars and the rough routes caused only mechanical and technical problems, but that was at other parts of the route.
Leaving the town to the north, we had to cross the Senegal River at the Port du Kayes.There was a lot of traffic, like cars, trucks and donkey carts on the bridge.Not only vehicles, but also pedestrians crossed the river by using this bridge. So we had to be very careful, because there is not that much space.Luckily also many pedestrians used the dam under the bridge. This is a more saver place for pedestrians to cross the river.
Downtown Kayed in the Centre Commercial area you will find all kind of traffic in the narrow unpaved streets.When we parked our cars in front of the shop, where we bought our drinks, for loading the trays, a truck , a moped and a hand cart tried to pass us. There were also a lot of pedestrians everywhere in this part of the town.
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