You need a valid passport. A visa is obligatory for everybody except for
subjects of the CEDEAO. Contact the Malian Consulate or Embassy in your
country for information concerning the obtainment of a visa:
In the United States: Embassy
of
In Canada: Malian Embassy, 50 Goulburn Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,
K1Z, 7S3, tel. 1613 232 1501, e-mail
ambassadedumali@rogers.com
website: www.ambamalicanada.org
On this website you can find the addresses of different consulates.
If you’re British, you can contact the Embassy of Mali in Belgium:
Ambassade du Mali, Av. Molière 487, Brussels 1060, tel. 02 354 74 32, fax
02 344 57 00, open from 9 till 12 am from Monday till Friday.
Germany:
www.konsulate.de
From mid-December till the end of April "Point-Afrique" assures
weekly connections between Paris-Bamako for very reasonable prices. For
more information:
Point-Afrique,Le
Village 07700 Bidon
tel: 0 820 000 154 ou 04 75 97 20 40
ou 26, rue de la Grande Truanderie,75001 Paris,
"Nouvelles Frontières" flies weekly from Paris to Bamako with
Corsair. For more information:
87, Bd de Grenelle, 75015 Paris, tel. 0825 000 825, www.nouvelles-frontieres.fr,
minitel 36-15 code NF
Air Algeria has flights from Brussels or Paris to Bamako for reasonable
prices www.airalgerie.dz
Afriqiyah has flights from different towns for good prices www.afriqiyah.be
When traveling from the UK, look at http://www.justtheflight.co.uk/cheap-flights/BKO-bamako.html
When traveling from the USA, look at
www.cheap-flight-to.com
You can also fly with Air France www.airfrance.com
or Air Maroc www.royalairmaroc.com
but these flights are more expensive.
To obtain the tariffs for a direct flight Barcelona-Bamako, please contact info@malidirect.org
There are buses leaving Bamako for Segou every hour. This journey takes about 3 hours on a good asphalt road. If you arrive at night in Bamako, we recommend to spend the first night in Bamako, and take the bus next morning. Every taxi driver can bring you to the bus station. The Festival offers you this bus trip for free, please see the reservation page.
A yellow fever vaccination certificate is obligatory. Advices for other
vaccinations vary. You better contact a health care center or a center for
tropical diseases in your region, or get your information from the
internet:
All countries:
www.tripprep.com
Travel Clinics across Canada:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca
Australia:
www.travelclinic.com.au
South Africa:
www.travelclinic.co.za
Contact your insurance company for a travel insurance and ask the airline
company to insure your flight.
We advise you to travel with francs CFA or with Euros, which you can easily change into FCFA (1 euro = 655 FCFA) in all banks in the country. Other currencies, credit cards or cheques aren't easy to change.
For lunch and dinner, plan a
total sum of ± 10.000 FCFA (16 euro) a day. The price of your room depends
on the hotel where you booked. If you want to buy souvenirs,
you naturally have to plan your budget a bit larger.
Mali has a dry tropical climate, which is influenced by the harmattan (a
hot and dry wind) and a monsoon wind (humid wind which brings rain).
One distinguishes three seasons :
The rainy season (from June to October) is the period of agricultural
activity ; The rivers are navigable and the landscape becomes green ; the
temperatures are supportable (± 25°C, 77° F); the disadvantage is that
many small roads are not practicable;
The cold season ( November - February ) is the best tourist season ; all
roads are practicable and temperatures are agreeable in the whole country (±
20-25°C, 68-77°F );
The warm
and dry season (March - June) is a period of great warmth (± 38-40°C,
100-104°F).
You should bring enough light clothes. Women are supposed to cover their
legs till the knee. Bring a jumper for the evening in the cold season
(November - February). It's agreeable to wear trousers, a blouse with long
sleeves and stockings in the evening to prevent mosquitoes to bite you.
You can also bring anti-mosquito milk. If you choose a sportive and
adventurous or a natural tour have to bring a sleeping bag because the
nights can be cold in the villages!
Restaurants / bars :
Le Soleil de minuit, town center, (00 223) 23 21 505
Ariane, town center, (00 223) 23 20 950
Le Golfe, town center, 00 223 23 20 698
Lavazza, (00 223) 23 22 260
Djigimadon, (00 223) 23 20 596
Hôtels / restaurants / bars
Motel Savane, quartier
administratif, (00 223) 23 20 974 ou 23 21 804
Hotel Djoliba,
town center, (00 223) 23 21 572 ou 23 21
659
Hotel Riverain, (00 223) 23 20
795 ou 23 20 257
Hotel l’Auberge,
town center (00 223) 23 20 145
Hotel l’Indépendance,
quartier Pélenguana, (00 223) 23 20 462
Hotel l’Esplanade,
town center, (00 223) 23 20 127
Delta hotel, quartier
administratif (00 223) 23 20 272
Motel Mivera, quartier Pélenguana
(00 223) 23 20 331
Hotel Kaarta, (00 223) 23 21
080
Hotel Tériya, (00 223) 23 21
075
Hotel
Wawa, (00 223) 23 21 885
Hotel
Mobasso, center ville, (00 223) 23 21 790
Hotel
de France, center ville, (00 223) 23 20 315
In Mali it's universal time.
The telephone number of Mali is 223
On our page links you’ll find interesting sites
with information about the country, hotels in Segou, travel agencies etc.
On our page
reservation we’ll explain how to
get your entry ticket and how to reserve a hotel room.
On our page
tourist
tours you’ll find ideas to integrate your visit to the festival in a
unforgettable journey trough Mali.