Bamako, Capital City
Even though the capital city Bamako has over a million people, it is more fitting to call it a sprawling village. With the exception of a few paved main roads, most of the city's roads are extremely bumpy dirt roads. During the dry season (from November through May) the roads get very dusty; during the rainy season, the potholes or bump indentations (or sometimes the entire road) fill with terracotta colored mud or water - fertile breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Buildings
Within Bamako, you will find a couple of tall buildings (a bank and a hotel), but most are modest. Within the older parts of Bamako, you can also find some old colonial buildings which are now used for government agencies, hotels, schools, and other functions. Most homes inhabited by the expatriates and others of "wealth" are larger, have beautiful flowering trees, gardens and a swimming pool (nearly necessary in the hot season). By contrast, the typical Malian home in Bamako is smaller and is either made of crude cement bricks or the typical building material for Mali - mud bricks.
Animals
While you will find a few cats around (we have some who indeed "cat fight" behind our house), the typical animal you will find roaming the streets are goats, sheep, chickens, donkeys and cattle. They graze on whatever they can find, including the multitude of plastic bags littering the streets.
The Economy
Unemployment is very high. Most live on what they can somehow make during that day. Paper money bills worth about a dollar or so are the most popular (and difficult to hold onto) monetary amounts. Other printed money includes the 500 CFA (about $0.68), 5,000 CFA (about $6.80) and the 10,000 CFA (about $13.60).Prices are not fixed; nearly everything's prices are negotiable, with bargaining expected. People get around by a variety of means; donkey and cart, moped, walking, bicycle, baché's (green Peugot vans that are crowded to the max with people), taxi, or 4WD's.
As written in 2003
Buildings
Within Bamako, you will find a couple of tall buildings (a bank and a hotel), but most are modest. Within the older parts of Bamako, you can also find some old colonial buildings which are now used for government agencies, hotels, schools, and other functions. Most homes inhabited by the expatriates and others of "wealth" are larger, have beautiful flowering trees, gardens and a swimming pool (nearly necessary in the hot season). By contrast, the typical Malian home in Bamako is smaller and is either made of crude cement bricks or the typical building material for Mali - mud bricks.
Animals
While you will find a few cats around (we have some who indeed "cat fight" behind our house), the typical animal you will find roaming the streets are goats, sheep, chickens, donkeys and cattle. They graze on whatever they can find, including the multitude of plastic bags littering the streets.
The Economy
Unemployment is very high. Most live on what they can somehow make during that day. Paper money bills worth about a dollar or so are the most popular (and difficult to hold onto) monetary amounts. Other printed money includes the 500 CFA (about $0.68), 5,000 CFA (about $6.80) and the 10,000 CFA (about $13.60).Prices are not fixed; nearly everything's prices are negotiable, with bargaining expected. People get around by a variety of means; donkey and cart, moped, walking, bicycle, baché's (green Peugot vans that are crowded to the max with people), taxi, or 4WD's.
As written in 2003