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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

Mali: The Floating Market

A busy market by the banks of the River Niger
There's only a limited amount of time to trade before the captain blows the boat's horn and the ferry heads off for the next village, so the pace of wheeling and dealing is somewhat frenetic

As the public ferry slopes into the remote town of Bamba, some 280km west of Gao on the northern tip of the River Niger's long arc through Mali, the market literally comes to town. For concealed in the belly of the steel CMN ferry are the women and children of the Niger's floating market.

The Market Arrives

A busy market by the banks of the River Niger
The market kicks off as soon as the ferry docks

As the boat judders into port, sliding in the current until it's facing upstream, the crowds on the quay are poised, frozen like a scrum just before the ball is thrown in. There are maybe three or four hundred locals crowding on the quay, splashes of colour beside the light brown mud houses that squat round the port like ancient, weather-beaten castle turrets, dwarfed by the dunes that lead off downstream. Everything is surprisingly still, wound up with anticipation, until finally the ferry draws alongside. As soon as the first person can jump the gap between boat and quay, the levee breaks and all hell breaks loose.

A market by the banks of the River Niger
At some stops the market is less busy, but trade is still brisk
A market by the banks of the River Niger
A quieter market from above