Camels and an Attempt to see Elephants

My first Malian vacation!  Myself, Megan, and Dies (a Dutch friend) went to the Mopti region of Mali.  It's towards the East.  We went to visit a fellow PCV-Dan Dayton.  It was a 2 day journey to get there, but we finally made it.  Dans village is absolutely beautiful; set between 2 huge rocks.  His village is a Fulani village, so communicating was a bit difficult for me because I do not speak their local language.  Luckily many people did speak Bambara so I was ok.  As soon as we arrived, we were whisked off in this pictured automobile for our elephant safari.  June is the migratory season for them, but Dan's counterpart said that they saw a pack yesterday.  After 5hrs of searching we didn't find any.  It's ok though, bc I saw some camels and just had a nice Malian time looking for elephants.  The next day we just chilled a bit, I got to talk to the locals and meet Dan's host family.  The next day we had the adventure of getting out of his village, the locals trying to charge us WAYYY to much for a ride to where we needed to go-reason being "you are white, you make money"  That reason didn't fly with us, so instead of working and making money, the bus drivers preferred to sit and drink tea. Nice.  Mali.  

So, we finally made it to our destination-5hours later.  The Hand of Fatima!  Oh it's a beautiful rock formation.  This place was so peaceful and majestic.  The rocks were a bright orangy/red, and gigantic.  I felt so small.  We did some fun things and camped out.  Met up with some Quebequois and had a great time with them.  Overall, my first Malian vacation was great!  It's good to explore ones country!  My next planned vacation is Senegal and The Gambia.  I want beaches and nice restaurants.  I don't want the typical African vacation because I'm living it!  June.  I can't wait!  It's so hot here, but I'm surviving.