Bamako - Hill-Walk

This walk is over and along one of the hills on the south side of the Niger river. Depending on the season, it will be quite dry and you get a dessert feeling.

There are many different ways to get to the starting point, but I recommend to start on the south side of the Sotuba bridge and follow the road along the canal. From there, follow the 5 indicated "via" way points to get to the parking.

At the parking way point, you'll find a few trees to park under and you can always ask the nearby fruit-stand to keep an eye on your vehicle while you're away. Buying some fruits after the hike and giving them a big tip will make their day! (or week)

The hike starts at ground level and you walk a bit through the houses. After about 2.5 km, you will start with the ascent up the hill. In particular, you will need to use your hands and scramble up the hill, but later on, it will get easier. As few people make it up here, the track is not very clear. Just follow the direction indicated on the GPS. Later on, navigation will get much easier. The steep ascent is just 800 meter, over which you will gain 100 meter altitude.

Although in the middle of Bamako, there are few houses on this hill. In particular the first part of the hill, you would almost forget that you are in Bamako.

As you follow the track, you'll see that more and more people ventured all the way out here to build their houses. Only after passing the highest point of this trail, there are a lot of houses (planned). Even a mosque was build here in April 2018.

After a bit of zigzagging between the (future) houses, the descent will start. From there, you get a nice view over the valley and rock formations of the hill.

Near the foot of the hill, the track make a sharp turn to the left. if you want to shave off a kilometre of the track, you can opt here to continue straight.

Now you are down the mountain, there are a lot more people. The rest of the trail, you will keep the hill on your right hand side as you pass through various small tracks.

Just before you reach the car, you'll pass by a small local market. It's not open every day, but you may strike a bargain if you're lucky.

Enjoy the hike and leave a comment if you have completed this hike. I would like to hear your opinion about it.