The Siby Death March

We went for an out-of-town expedition to Siby last weekend with Sarah's parents. Siby is a quiet village about an hour or so outside of Bamako, and is probably best known for its several historical sites related to the Sundiata epic. We figured it would be a relaxing getaway from busy city life, and give us a taste of "real Mali" out in the villages.

Biton and Alex had done this exact expedition the week before, and left us with some good advice: a). don't take a sotroma out to Siby, and b). you should find a different guide. The guide they went with is loosely associated with our circle of friends, but apparently didn't know all that much about Siby. As for the sotroma.... well, they look like this:

We didn't exactly want to spend 2+ hours navigating several transfers on crowded bench seats just to get out to the village.

Taking this advice to heart, we had arranged for a ride to Siby, and planned on finding a local guide to take us around to the historical sites. And of course, everything proceeded according to plan: at 11:30pm the night before we left, our driver wasn't answering his phone and it looked like we were a). taking a sotroma out to Siby, and b). using the same guide as Biton and Alex. Luckily, Baïssou was able to find another friend to drive us, and by mid-morning Saturday we were on our way!

Once arriving in Siby, we checked into a Hotel/"Campement" owned by a M. Traoré, and after dropping our things a guide showed up to take us to the first site: the "Arch of Kamandjan." By this time, it was high-noon, and we were beginning to lament the fact that cold season is on its way out.

We began the hike, but it turns out the actual trail doesn't start until a ways outside of town. By the time we got there, our water was almost gone and the day was still getting hotter.

I should set the record straight: it wasn't all bad; the hike was gorgeous, and offered some really stunning views. But, I would recommend to anyone doing the same trek to start early in the morning.

Our guide, Boi, was very chatty and had some good stories along the trail. According to legend, the Arch was created when one of Sundiata's generals shot an arrow through the cliff to prove his strength. We also saw the cave where Sundiata supposedly got his fortune told, and the pile of stones people brought as offerings for this fortune teller.

Posing with some stacked rocks in the cave of the fortune teller.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were starving but had a tasty lunch of rice and peanut sauce and then promptly napped until dusk. Fortunately and unfortunately, Sarah's mom fell slightly ill which saved us from having to take another trek up the mountain. Instead, we listened to Boubacar Traoré (the owner of the campement) play some traditional instruments over dinner, despite having shot off two of his fingers as a younger man!

Sunday morning, we just relaxed and chatted as we waited for our friend to come pick us up again. True to Malian time (see Sarah's recent post), we planned for noon but were picked up closer to 2pm. Despite our exhaustion and occasional illness, the adventure to Siby was an enjoyable success.

See more pictures below: