Along the Hills near Sarambougou

This is a 10km walk on one of the hills, north of Sotuba, in the outskirts of Bamako.

As it's a fairly short walk, and the track is easy to follow, I would consider this an easy track. There are 2 high points (calling them summits would be overstating it) and your total gain along the track is about 200 mtr.

Depending on your pace and the number of breaks you'll take, expect the track to take your around 2.5 hrs.

To get to the starting point of the hike, you can follow the indicated way points. You don't need a 4WD car to pass all the waypoints, but to get to the parking spot, it will be a bit hard on your car if it's a 4WD, so in that case, park somewhere between the last "via" waypoint and the indicated waypoint. It just means you'll walk will be slightly longer with a bit more elevation gain at the beginning.

Depending on weather, you may have nice view over the north-east part of Bamako as well as the river. But dust and pollution may make this view rather blurry, so your best chances are during the rainy reason, when this walk is probably also the most enjoyable.

But assuming you start at the indicated waypoint, you'll start your hike on the wide, straight and unpaved road. For the next 2.5 km, you'll gain 100 meter in height. As you'll see this area is getting build up. When we passed it, there were few houses, but lots of plans. You might see more activity when you pass by here.

As you come to the highest point of this part of the track "summit-1", you'll make sharp right turn and pass a house.

After you pass the house, you'll descent into the valley. It might be bit difficult to find a track in this section, but for a distance of about 75 meters, you need to scramble down. This part of the track is indicated by the 2 "no track" waypoints. I have not found a detour, but as it's such a short bit, I've kept it as is. Please be careful at this bit as there are loose rock.

Once you pass by a small shed, you'll find a regular track again and from here it will get quite enjoyable as you pass into the valley. On your right-hand side, you'll find a nice tree that will give you some shade.

You follow the track south through the valley and you'll get a view over the city again, but before you get to the edge of the hills, you make a left-hand turn and make a big circle around the hill you'll keep on your left hand.

When you have hiked about 5km, you'll pass by some eucalyptus trees on your left hand that will give you a bit of shade and a few rocks to sit, so a perfect spot for a water break (indicated by waypoint Water break 2).

As you continue the trail, it starts to gradually climb as you continue to make a left-hand turn. When you are at the most northers part of the trail, you'll see the next town on the distance, called Safo. You'll have a nice view in that direction until you pass the highest point of this part of the trail. A bit further you might want to take another water break.

After that, you'll get to see houses on the Bamako side again and as you continue the easy trail, you'll get a view over Dyoumassana, another suburb of Bamako. To us, it looked like time stood still as it looks so different from downtown.

As you pass a tall Boab tree, it's just 1 km to go back to the parking. Slowly, you get closer to the houses and as you suddenly turn the last corner, you'll find yourself back at the parking.

Please remember to bring plenty of water and a snack as you'll not see any shops along the way.

We hope you'll enjoy the hike as much as we did. Please leave a comment or review of this hike so others will know if it lives up to this description.