Ségou

Ségou sits on the Niger upstream of the inland delta and was the capital of the Bambara kingdom before the French made it a colonial administrative town. Long low buildings in Sudanese style with arcades and neem trees line the riverfront, and the old royal village of Ségou Koro stands ten kilometres upstream with the tomb of King Biton Coulibaly. Potters at Kalabougou fire their work in open bonfires on the far bank, reached by pirogue. Ségou is the quietest of the river towns and holds an annual festival of Niger music on the water.