Yesterday, I drove around town for the second time, and took a lot of pictures (including many of Koulikoro Road, which I wrote about recently).

The most important thing to know about driving (or walking) in Bamako is the pecking order, as follows:

1. 18-wheelers/semis
2. Large buses: The new Diarra and Bani transport buses are so deluxe ... And sooo big.
3. 4x4 trucks: Expats, travellers, and well-to-do Malians. Sometimes driving themselves, sometimes driven by less well-to-do Malians.
4. SOTRAMA minibuses: Angry young men with something to prove. If you must cross the street in front of one, scurry.
5. Taxis: Inflated sense of self-importance, especially considering the state of the vehicles. Broken window cranks, broken springs, broken floorboards, trick clutches. Air conditioning? Ha.
6. Cars: Know your place.
7. Mopeds/scooters: They will swarm around your car like flies, much too close for your comfort, but they will take care of themselves. Tune them out. Before passing one on a narrow road, you may wish give a little beep.
8. Bicycles: Slightly more alert/cautious than mopeds.
9. Men with pousse-pousse carts
10. all other pedestrians: No preferential treatment for children, pregnant women, blind old men, etc. I repeat: Caveat pedes.
11. Wheelchairs: Malian wheelchairs ride very low to the ground. The handicapped people who use them sit with their legs forward (if, er, they have legs), like on a recumbent bicycle, and propel themselves forward with a nifty hand-pedal system. They drive alongside the cars, are hard to see, and run a terrible risk of accidents.
12. Horses/donkeys: As a matter of pride, never let one cut you off. Also, bad luck to hit a donkey.
13. Cattle: Give them a lot of room. If one is roped and unhappy, it will move unpredictably. If the herd is on the move, they won’t stop for nothing.
14. Sheep/goats: In the city, they stick to grazing in the garbage piles, but in the brousse, look out for unsupervised herds crossing the road. Night driving not advised for this reason.
15. Chickens
16. Dogs: Not many. Malians are generally scared of dogs, and disgusted/amused by the idea of pets. All the dogs in Mali (medium height, thin, short wiry ginger hair) seem to have been born of the same litter.

You may be wondering about cats. The answer is: Not an issue. They are only seen in expat houses (plump. complacent) and outside restaurant kitchens (scrawny, skittish).