Our first trip outside of Bamako was to Segou, a city of about 100,000. The Niger flows through the city that was the capital of the Segou Kingdom which ruled over Mali between the mid 19th century until the arrival of the French.  The Niger provides vital irrigation for cereal cultivation, and the Segou region is the most productive in the country. Bozo fishermen catch and sell capitaines, and ferry tourists around in motorized pirogues.

In the 1920’s the French administration built a dam using forced labor at the nearby town of Markala in order to increase productivity in the region. Thousands died, and now a memorial stands on the banks commemorating their sacrifice. We were not allowed to take pictures of it, but I was struck by the enormity of the dam relative to the lack of industry associated with it. There was no hydroelectric station, no factories, no docks: there were only a few solitary fishermen casting nets off the dam.

This area has the potential to feed the entire country, if it is farmed efficiently, but currently only supplies about 50%. "We have so much potential, but we don’t exploit it," said Dante one night. "We must take advantage of our resources."