I have a friend who is moving to Mali. Any suggestions how to visit inexpensively from the Denver area? I am flexible about timing. Also...what telephone services are recommmended?

Thanks...pierre

[This message has been edited by pierre mclopez (edited 07-18-2000).]

Can�t help you with the specifics of the flight question (other than to say that I�ve found that it can be cheaper during the transatlantic low season to buy a separate ticket to Europe and then onwards to Africa rather than a straight US-Africa ticket).
As for cheap calling, I�ve found www.10-10phonerates.com to be really informative in terms of dealing with all the different dialarounds and figuring out which ones are cheaper than others. There are a couple dialarounds whose international rates are cheaper than the "special" rates for which MCI, Sprint, AT&T will charge you a monthly fee! (of course, none of these earns frequent flier miles, but with the exception of big sign-up bonuses, I don�t find these to be worth all the extra charges).
Yonatan

I was in the Peace Corps in Bamako. When friends visited, I always recommended going through a consolidator for this trip. One that specialises in trips to Africa. Do not buy directly from the airlines or Travelocity!

Cheapest was invariablly Air Afrique JFK to Dakar, with connecting Ethiopian jump to Bamako.

Ethiopian, at that time, was the only cross-African service available. This was in 1988-90.