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| 奔驰卡车 911 - Mercedes Benz 911 in Mali |
假如你确实想从达可儿塞内加尔前往延巴克图，特别是如果你是驾驶卡车通过西非，在马里你必须有经验然后去经历一些不错的冒险在这条路上。
If you ever wanted to take yourself out on a trip from Dakar in Senegal to Timbuktu in Mali you will have to experience some nice adventures on the road, specially if you go by truck through these West-African countries.
我曾经和以为非常好的老朋友完成了一次非常特别的旅途，从巴黎到达卡在他们的SUV，他曾决定完成一次冒险的假期，在老旧的卡车上他非常晓得这辆卡车的拉力赛。当时我极其想自己能加入这次假期，仅仅我非常幸运的遇见卡车司机莫哈马德在玛丽安的达卡的港口。他装满货物在他工作在柴油机大泵上，他正一个人准备到他的卡车上，他来自达喀尔的什么地方。一次愉快的英语和法语 谈判似地聊天后，他承担负责我成为他的伙伴驾驶他的奔驰卡车去廷巴克图。
I'd just finished an awesome trip from Paris to Dakar with some good old friends in their SUV's, who decided go for a adventure trip during vacation on the old tracks of its so good known Rally, when I shortly forced myself to extend my vacation for take an additional tour just as I luckily met the Malian truck driver Mohammed in the Port of Dakar. He just fueled up Diesel using a hand pump out of a big barrel, which was brought by a guy with an old pick up truck from somewhere else in Dakar. After an nice talking with severe negotiations in English and French language he offered me a ride as a co-driver in his Mercedes-Benz truck for Timbuktu bound.
对我而言，这可能十分确定的第一次不寻常去相信他。我肯定的问我自己，如果发生了什么事情该如何应对我没有任何签证的情况下当我跨越边境，我从未听说关于廷巴克图是一个确实的地点如同人们常常谈起的那样。仅仅如同一个案例，有一个未知的城市，没有人知道，他们简单的叫它廷巴克图。如此，穆罕默德解释说任何事情都是可能的，这让两个国家能担心。
Ok it was probably pretty much unusual for me to believe him at the first place. I surely asked myself what happened if I'm going to cross the border without a valid Visa which I usually have to apply for in my home country some weeks before the trip. I also thought that I've never heard about where the heck Timbuktu is located for real but as people always say, just in case if there is a pretty much unknown city far away and nobody knows it, they simply call it somewhere in Timbuktu. Well, Mohammed explained that everything is possible in this two countries and I shouldn't be worry about.
对我而言，这可能十分确定的第一次不寻常去相信他。我肯定的问我自己，如果发生了什么事情该如何应对我没有任何签证的情况下当我跨越边境，我从未听说关于廷巴克图是一个确实的地点如同人们常常谈起的那样。仅仅如同一个案例，有一个未知的城市，没有人知道，他们简单的叫它廷巴克图。如此，穆罕默德解释说任何事情都是可能的，这让两个国家能担心。
Ok it was probably pretty much unusual for me to believe him at the first place. I surely asked myself what happened if I'm going to cross the border without a valid Visa which I usually have to apply for in my home country some weeks before the trip. I also thought that I've never heard about where the heck Timbuktu is located for real but as people always say, just in case if there is a pretty much unknown city far away and nobody knows it, they simply call it somewhere in Timbuktu. Well, Mohammed explained that everything is possible in this two countries and I shouldn't be worry about.
他告诉我关于马里和色呢噶新路面的情况，这两项高速公路在近几年最终总督签署了协议，他说：“你要懂得马里的情况。这是一个封闭的国家，90%的国际交通是在海上运行的。马里一道邻近的港口，比较特殊的南面和西面的海域科特迪瓦，这里主要运输集合散装的货物。非常多卡车运载奶粉在马里往东去的道路上，水泵，汽油和柴油，发电机，推土机和水泥，医疗用品，和上百的其它已从海上卸下的货物在达喀尔港口，那里的非洲的主人始终保持运行，某些卡车正离开马里。我刚好卸下集装箱在对面的港口，那些牲口被拴着驮着盐，其它空车进入马里港口为了装载货物。”
He told me about the new road conditions on the major highways in Mali and Senegal, which both Presidents signed an agreement for and finally implemented the new highway a couple of years ago.
He said, "You need to understand Mali's situation. It is a landlocked country, 90% of whose international trade depends on maritime traffic. Mali must rely on the ports of its neighbors, especially Côte d’Ivoire in the south and Senegal in the west, to move the bulk of its merchandise. A lots of trucks are traveling eastbound for Mali with loads of milk powder, water pumps, gasoline and diesel fuel, electric generators, bulldozers, cement, medical supplies, and hundreds of other items offloaded from ships at the port of Dakar which keeps the landlocked Africa running but only certain loads are leaving Mali. I'd just delivered a load of cotton on the other side of the Port, other drivers also haul lifestock or even salt but the majority of trucks running empty into Senegal to pick up loads for Mali."
我们一早驾驶着我们已经装满了饮料的卡车离开达喀尔，并且将沿海港行驶650公里穿过Kidira城市的边界。如此我们在莫哈默德之后整夜在卡车上他解释他知道的关于在Kidira的酒店环境，他不能离开卡车在直到前面5公里边界的检查站。很多卡车司机不能睡觉的在西非，就如同在莫哈默德的一次在海边停留时打个盹，头就枕在方向盘上，但是他享受着出租来的车上的机会为了这次美妙的一路旅行交谈。
We left Dakar with a full load of beverages early in the morning and we made it to the border town Kidira in the night after 650 km of trucking through Senegal. Than we both spent the night in the truck after Mohammed explained about the worse conditions at the hotels in Kidira as well as he wouldn't leave his truck unattended in the line up about 5 km in front of the border checkpoint. Many trucks have no sleepers in Western Africa as well as Mohammed's truck so I took a nap on the passenger seat while Mohammed leaned his head on the steering wheel. Other times he better likes to lay down straight with his feet on the passenger seat, head on the drivers seat but this time he shared his day cab truck in exchange for an nice talking during this trip.
第二天早晨，我们在本地图吧的咖啡馆，享受新鲜的水果，法国长棍面包伴着长时间延迟的等待在Falémé的海关。一位警察开始朝着我的脸看了一会儿，问我：“为了什么我要去马里旅行？”我告诉他，我早就很感兴趣驾驶这儿，我想知道关于这个国家的情况，他是怎样运行生意的。他开始大笑起来并且提高音量说着蹩脚的英语让我清楚的知道，“关于马里你正选择一个很坏的国家进行旅行”，可是莫哈默德信心十足的将他的头斜着朝向我的肩膀方向去告诉这位警察，“我将非常小心的关照他，他会是安全的。”
当另外一位办公人员检查我的私人物品是否属于我，我不是坏人中的一员他们走私毒品或武器当他们进入马里。顺便的，他们已经有人在那里，那里并没有真正开发好的海岸线被建成，那里需要更早的穿过南或北的检查点。最终，一点小幸运，这个好心情的边检办公人员最后让我付了税金在非洲金融共同体处所，我在护照要求的时间是一个月，我很快的离开了检查站。
In the next morning we started up traditionally with Senegalese Café Touba, fresh fruits, baguette bread and a long delay until we cleared Customs in Falémé. A Police officer stared at my white face asking me, "For what in the world do you want to visit Mali ?" I told him, I'm just interested in trucking and I wanted to know how other countries may deal with the trucking business. He started laughing and raised his voice in his broken English to let me know clearly, "For Mali you are choosing a very bad country as a tourist", but Mohammed confidently laid his hand on my shoulder telling the officer, "I will take good care off him, he will be safe."
When another officer checked all my personal belongings, he wanted to make sure, I'm not one of those bad guys who are smuggling drugs or weapons into Mali, by the way, they already have lot's of those people around this unmarked border line area who are just need to cross the river either south or north of the checkpoint easily. Finally, because of a little luck, the good mood of the border officer and at least the right fee paid in CFA franc, I got my demanded temporally Visa, valid for one month, and we were good to leave the checkpoint.
When another officer checked all my personal belongings, he wanted to make sure, I'm not one of those bad guys who are smuggling drugs or weapons into Mali, by the way, they already have lot's of those people around this unmarked border line area who are just need to cross the river either south or north of the checkpoint easily. Finally, because of a little luck, the good mood of the border officer and at least the right fee paid in CFA franc, I got my demanded temporally Visa, valid for one month, and we were good to leave the checkpoint.
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| 边界跨越在Kidira，塞内加尔/马里 - Bordercrossing in Kidira, Senegal / Mali |
On our way into Mali I've been always surprised about the good quality of the new highway. "Some very rich countries helped paying for this Corridor between Dakar to Bamako", Mohammed said. No wonder about that, a grant from Japan helped finance the realization of three components, including the border crossing at Falemé, which exemplifies sound management of the Mali-Senegal border. The European Union and Germany’s KfW financed the Kati-Kita section (162 km) jointly.
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| 西非卡车司机感到骄傲为新的走廊高速公路 West African Truckers proud of the new Corridor Highways |
我学到一些关于西非卡车司机的规则。他们很多更像美国小时制度（HOS）在马里叫做Le Code de la Route.它包括轴重和一些关于安全制度。卡车司机不允许驾驶超过4小时不休息和他们仅被允许驾驶8小时/每天。这些时间被记录在一本子里面。我下个这并不是坏事，而正确的时间运行在马里的告诉公路上。同样的规则是在塞内加尔，这里司机需要付费才能奔跑在路上。这里称重的主管非常关心的观察卡车超重和超高问题。莫哈默德的卡车有个轴，这样是被允许重量范围在51吨之内。
称重的屏幕显示65吨。“别担心，”莫哈默德说。“在马里我们的法律允许在68吨如果是6轴卡车的运载重量界限。”我答道：“哦”。那是真的重。这样的轴重标明允许你超过9吨。在路上，可见26吨和33吨在树拖车车轴上。
I also learned quite little about the rules for truckers in West Africa. They have something like American hours of service (HOS) which in Mali is to be called Le Code de la Route. It also includes axle weights and something about safety. Truck drivers are not allowed to drive more than 4 hours without a break and they are only allowed to drive 8 hours a day which will be recorded in a log book. Not too bad at all I thought and right at that time it appeared the first scale on our way in Mali. Same like in Senegal, here the driver needs to pay a fee for the toll road. The scale master is watching carefully for overweight trucks and the fines could be very high. Mohammed's truck has 6 axles and is allowed to have a total weight of 51 tons.
The scaled weight was shown on the screen: 65 tons. "Don't worry", Mohammed said. "In Mali our law excepts a tolerance until 68 tons of total weight for 6 axle trucks as long the axle weights are within the limit." I said, "WOW!", that's really heavy. The axle weight tolerances will allow you to exceed 9 t. on the steers, 26 t. on the drives and 33 tons on the trailer triples.
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| 收费公路税和法律轨重量 - Toll road taxes and legal axle weights |
This day we drove only 580 km until we stopped for the night on safe ground under palm trees beside the main road RN1 in the town of Kolokani. Mohammed said it is safe to stop at this location because private soldiers armed with Kalashnikov's who previously fought in Mali's civil war get paid by the trucking company to take care of the trucks while drivers rest in the so called "Les chauffeurs dorment la maison" which stands for bed rooms. In the house next to it we had to have our food.
That night we had a bowl of sorghum with rice and a glass of tea before we got rest in hammoks which, Mohammed said so, prevented us to get bitten by all those tiny creeping animals, and we were talking about the truckers job in West Africa and also about many other countries until late in the night and Mohammed seemed to be very happy as I told him, like it has been discovered, that the first humans probably have been black and the white color appeared later through a pigment failure in the skin. However we both have been tired and finally we could not satisfy our hunger of all these information before we fell asleep.
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| 默罕默德的卡车：奔驰车Actros - Mohammed's Truck: Mercedes Benz Actros |
The following morning I woke up about 5am local time when Mohammed decided to give his truck a warm up with full throttle to pump air pressure in the reservoir for releasing his trailer brakes. He checked the tires for safety and I got back onto the passenger seat as another guy reached us two pieces of bread trough the door wishing us "Bon voyage", and we've been on our way.
这是有趣的一次旅行，现在我们沿着巴马科城市的路。这里我们跨越3个高速公路点到巴马科，那里新的大桥跨越尼日尔河，这是中国的葛洲坝公司团体建造在2012年。前些时没有桥的时候汽车和卡车只能行驶在水里，如莫哈默德告诉我这有些交通堵塞的在没有大桥之前，但他保持冷静。"这要更好的耐心，自由耐心的接受他”，莫哈默德说，“河岸右侧准时停靠并且对齐，此刻等待过河。”还有很多事情，这里预约过桥。这确实是如此我告诉其他专业卡车司机关于那些不同的国家的驾驶情况。
It is an interesting travel got now focused along the City of Bamako. Here we crossed the "3eme pont de Bamako" which is the new bridge over the Niger river, build by the Chinese Company Gezhouba Group Ltd in 2012. At a previous time before the new bridge has been cleared cars and trucks could only make it to the other side by crossing the river through the water, as Mohammed told me there has been a lot's of traffic jam before the new bridge has been opened but he kept calm.
"It is better to be patient, wait, accept patience is the beginning of wisdom", Mohammed told me, "Right bank time is punctuated by the vehicles that arrive and align, estimated is the time it will take." With other words, delivery appointment is when we get there. This is exactly what I've been told by many professional truck drivers from many different countries.
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| 巴马科桥梁 - Bamako bridge |
South of the Niger we headed east for about 230km to the town of Segou from where we needed to stay on RN6 towards Douentza. Mohammed said this day will be over as soon we are in Timbuktu but it seemed like this road never came to an end. Sometimes in good conditions those roads, somehow, turned into a dessert path or the tar has been washed away by flooding water and we was needed to go off the pavement to drive beside the tracks until the road have been good enough to go ahead on it so far. Mohammed said that almost every truck driver has the dream to drive a Semi Truck on endless highways for which this area in Mali is absolutely different.
关于其他200公里在杜安扎北部，我们抵达尼日尔河地带，那是主路结束在左侧一条小路上大约2公里缓行堤坝，是尼日尔河直到我们接近小停靠点，那里我们不得不等待渡船去 Korioumé。
About another 200 km north of Doentza we arrived at the Niger delta again where the main road ended in a left turn on a small way for about 2 km slow driving on a dike onto the Niger river until we reached a little parking lot at which we had to wait for the ferry boat to Korioumé.
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| 在尼日尔河的渡轮在廷巴克图，马里南部 Ferry boat on the Niger River south of Timbuktu, Mali |
From here we reached our final destination, the village of Timbuktu, just after another 16 km. It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara dessert and I guess it's pretty much impossible to keep trucking north from here except with camels.
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| 往廷巴克图的路标 - Road sign towards Timbuktu (Tombouctou) |
行驶在马里是很危险的在晚上，同样白天也同样危险。莫哈默德总是这样告诉我去小心观察周围的人群，他们带着一个包裹，2014年开始出现好战份子在廷巴克图机场，他们杀死一位将领。在2012年廷巴克图接触图阿雷格，他占领这座城市更好倾向于巴马科首都。那些时候一些人们走出沙漠的营鹏。随后法国军队占领城市。
Trucking in Mali could be very dangerous specially by night but also during the day. Mohammed always told me to watch for suspicious people who carry a back pack as just in the spring of 2014 jihadists appeared at the Timbuktu's Airport and killed a soldier. In 2012 Timbuktu have been attacked by Tuaregs who took over this town as well as they entered into the capital of Bamako. That time a lot of people flew out into the dessert for camp in tents. Later on French army took the cities back over.
较为困难的记忆马里的邻邦布基纳法索，几内亚，他们和埃博拉病毒有很多大麻烦。很多人生了病，很多人死了。随后特别是世界卫生组织长链卡车驾驶员们生病，他们传染了埃博拉病毒不能被治愈。旅行被限制很多国家跨越几内亚边界，利比里亚和塞拉利昂，更远控制病情。无论如何，利比里亚和马里的边界严密控制不被开放是不可能的。第一例埃博拉病毒患者发现在马里，一两岁的女孩，已经在这个国家死去了。
Hard to mention that Mali's neighbor countries Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Guinea have big trouble with Ebola. Many people are diseased, many died. According to WHO long haul truck drivers could be particularly at risk, particularly if effective monitoring systems for Ebola are not established at border crossings. Travel restrictions have been imposed by many of the countries bordering Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, further mitigating risks. Nevertheless, the land border between Guinea and Mali remains open and the porosity of borders in the regions makes it difficult for other crossings to be sealed effectively. The first Ebola victim in Mali, a two year old girl, made it already into the country and died.
随后在廷巴克图见了一些朋友，莫哈默德拉着我走向机场去赶飞机回我的国家。我猜想这是关于一段冒险故事一个来自廷巴克图到摩洛哥，在骆驼背上需要52天到90天。之后在最近的车队显现是因为路面变得越来越好。如廷巴克图，那是因为一个小到被遗忘的小镇，我似乎满足与小小的简单冒险，此刻我检查我的返程的行李准备飞回巴马科到巴黎。
After some sightseeing with my new friend in Timbuktu Mohammed dropped me off at the Airport to take a flight back to my civilization. I guessed it would be another adventure story about taking a ride from Timbuktu to Morocco on a camel within 52 days like it has been possible until the 90th. Later on those ancient caravan routes disappeared because of border disputes and the drying up of wells. As for Timbuktu, it became a small forgotten town but anyways, I've seen simply enough adventures for now as I checked in for my flight back to Paris via Bamako.
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| 机场廷巴克图，马里 - Airport of Timbuktu, Mali |
