After my long river trips, it was nice to have a nice uneventful trip from Gao to Sevaré. The bus was supposed to leave at 9:30 am but actually left at 10 am. Not bad. They dídn't charge for baggage. And the way Gana tours works is that you give them your name when you buy your ticket and they call off the names in order so you can get a better seat if you get your ticket early. I got mine the previous day, so I got a good seat.
They have a TV playing Malian music videos. Not quite as creative as American music videos, but fun to watch. But the most spectacular thing on the trip is the geology. The huge rock formations are awesome. The shapes are more interesting on the south side of the bus and the cliffs are more immense on the north side of the bus.
We pulled into Sevaré just after dark--about 6:30 pm. The white couple that was on the boat to Gao was sitting in front of me, but we didn't talk until the end when they suggested sharing a cab. They are Swiss and come to Mali every couple years. The taxi driver wasn't willing to offer a reasonable price, so they walked to their hotel and I just stayed in the Via Via right next to the gare routiere.
Lonely Planet says there are direct buses to Bobo-Dioulasso from Mopti but doesn't say anything about Sevaré, so I was a bit worried. I asked at the Via-Via and they told me to take a 7am Bani bus to Bla and change there. Sounds good. I could go to bed happy.
October 3, 2008 7:32 Burkina local time--but this trip was 2 days ago
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