(See also: Festival sur le Niger: The rest of it)

Friday afternoon there was much confusion about who was going to the festival and who was not, but in the end, four of us rode up in the Geekcorps vehicle. We left Bamako around 3:00 and got into Segou just after dark.

Since we'd booked late, our hotel, the Mivera, was on the far edge of town, on the road to Mopti. After we checked in we drove back to pick up our festival tickets. For expatriates it cost CFA 32,500 (about $65). The weekend was full of activities but, we thought, not quite worth all that money. And that was for us relatively rich folks. Tickets for locals cost 20,000 (about $40), an exorbitant price for Malians, meaning that only the upper class could afford to attend. (And many of them probably did not pay, anyway, being family or friends of ministers.)

Update: One of the festival organizers (and one of the owners of the Hotel Savane) contacted me through a comment on this post and corrected some of my perceptions.

• She informed me that "the habitants of Segou went into the festival site for free in the daytime and for 5000 FCFA in the night time. So many people who have nothing to do with ministers or upper class had the chance to be there."


• I implied that ministers got in free because of their political connections, but the festival was not organized by any ministry. It was organized by an association of hotel/restaurant operators in Segou.


• She assured me that the organizers made no profit on the festival, so even though I found the tickets pricey, they had cut the costs as low as they could afford to. She expects the price will be similar next year but the program will be richer -- i.e., more for your money.

Across the street from the festival office, at the Hotel Djoliba, we saw lots of familiar American faces from Bamako, and spied a dapper man in a white suit who we guessed, correctly, was Ali Farka Toure. He was headlining the concert geant that night.

It had been a busy week for all of us, and the 4-band concert didn't start until 10:00, so we went back to the hotel for naps. I'm sorry to say that that was the end of me -- I woke up at midnight but did not feel recovered enough to attend an outdoor show that would probably (and did) last until 3:00 a.m.

The next day we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed into town. Segou is a pleasant place, cleaner than Bamako, and with some wide boulevards running through the heart of it.

If you have ever been to Africa you will recognize this colorful stack of FOFY-brand mattresses:

Segou is known for its pottery and our first task was to buy some. To do that we parked down by the river, where the women spread their wares out; unlike Bamako, you can actually walk along the river.

While the others were shopping I took a picture of this horned building:

And attracted the attention of these three sweet, bewildered-looking children:

Shortly after that we were joined by some more children selling mangoes. The one with the tray was clearly the ringleader.

He pushed the other kids around. A small scuffle ensued.

But this guy never took his eyes off me.