Design that Matters Field Journal

In the city

Bamako is hardly a metropolis; on the same busy road you'll see cattle crossing the street, donkeys pulling carts and expensive SUVs raging past the slow and crowded city busses (old green VW vans without seats or doors). Taxi cabs and other old cars fill the air with emissions to rival NY. Many motorcyclists wear a dust mask to filter the pollution. The only tall buildings around are the banks. There are half-built buildings along the Niger river and across from them, on the banks of the river, are professional clothing cleaners, washing and laying out clothes on the hot ground to dry. Busy and noisy street markets line either side of most roads, but even in the midst of it all, people will stop to say bonjour or ça và with a smile and a hand wave.

Bamako is unlike any place I've ever seen.