The final aspect of our tour was a guided walk around Mopti - the commercial hub of central Mali. It is located on the banks of the River Bani, a tributary of the Niger.
It's a really bustling town, with loads going on in the port and the various markets. It is a place for trading fresh and dried fish, and we also visited the "shipyard" where the pinasses that travel up and down the river are built. The pinasse builders still use mostly traditional methods, and along side the boat builders, were men making nails and the other hardware needed.
We took a minibus back towards our hotel - 22 people crammed into a space that would hold 10 in the UK! It's called getting close to the locals....
