Bamako - Post Report Question and Answers
What are the particular advantages of living in this city?
You are living in the heart of West Africa and can't feel otherwise - this is both a positive and a negative at times. You will not forget that you are in West Africa. The people are generally quite nice. There are many more restaurant options than I thought there would be, which is nice. While I'm not a night-club person, there are several to choose from that are expat friendly and allow some mixing of expats and locals. To me, the best feature is the river: I think it's quite pretty, year round. - Apr 2017
Malians are some the friendliest people you will ever meet and they love to laugh and joke around. One special advantage is being able to make so many local friends. It's also great being able to live in such a culturally rich part of the world; Bamako is esentially the epicenter of west African culture (music/art/textiles). Malian music is world-famous and its brightly colored textiles can be seen all over this side of the continent. You'll see Malian wood carvings for sale throughout west Africa. You can definitely save money in Bamako! The most expensive items you will spend money on are imported food products (think French yogurt and cheese). Local meat is pretty good quality and the vegetable/fruit options are seasonal but pretty good. - Aug 2014
Bamako remains a sleepy, rustic, basic, old school African capital. Life is simple here by force, and we really enjoy that. Living in Bamako is like a two-year vacation from the rat race of the rest of the modern world. There is no ethnic strife, and there are no real security concerns in Bamako. Malians are upbeat, joking, lovely people to be around. There is very little to spend your money on here (besides traveling out of Mali, which is prohibitively expensive), so it is easy to save money. - Jul 2011
Super safe, no criminality, super friendly people, great house help, possibility to visit real African villages and having very interesting ethnic history (touaregs, etc.). - Jul 2011
You can save a great deal of money if you don't travel. Most of us leave the country every three to four months. There is interesting regional travel - Dogon Country, Banfora in Burkina-Faso, the beaches in Senegal and the Gambia, cities like Abidjan and Dakar, and the Fouta Djalon highlands in Guinea. Morocco (Casablanca) is only a three-hour flight from Bamako. - Oct 2010
I think the most beneficial part about being here is saving money. There's nothing to spend money on. - May 2010
