"Sociolingo's new Mali Page" a Mali Travel Page by sociolingo

I first came to Mali in 1999 when I spent seven weeks, setting up research into mother tongue education in schools. I went back in October 2000 and stayed until March 2001. We lived in Bamako the capital and worked in a school on the outskirts of town.

We loved the country and arrived back here to live and work last year. In these pages I will try and give you a little taste of life here. I'm still finding out more about the country I live in and as I do, I'll post more pictures and information.

If you like photos, have a look at this site .. it has over 1,000 pictures of Mali!
http://www.geocities.com/infobamako/imagesmali/index.htm

Here's a lovely picture I took of sunset on the River Niger.

The Republic of Mali is a completely landlocked enormous country in West Africa. It has an area of 1.2 million square kilomtres and is surrounded by Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger. The population is 10.67 million who live mostly in the south. It is mostly desert or semi-desert. The climate is subtropical and arid in the north. Most of the north of the country is desert and only nomadic groups live there. The principal ethnic groups are the Bambara, Peul and Tuareg. French is the official language but there are over 35 indigenous languages.

Since the revolution in 1991 the atmosphere in Mali has changed. Democracy really means something here! Everyone WANTS to have their say. On one day each year anyone in Mali, no matter if they are a rural farmer or a top businessman can come to Bamako and ask the President and other top government official any question they like. It is televised.