Moving to Bamako

Today we look at moving to Bamako in Mali from Maseru in Lesotho. We highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced in our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations.
In Bamako people speak French, Bambara, Berber and Arabic. In Maseru people speak Sesotho and English.

Bamako is the capital and largest city of Mali. Maseru is the capital and only sizable city of Lesotho. Bamako is the nation's administrative center, river port in nearby Koulikoro, and a major regional trade and conference center. Commerce in Maseru is centered around two neighboring central business districts. The western business district holds larger office buildings, department stores and several banks. The eastern business district hosts mainly smaller businesses, markets and street vendors. The central business districts are the largest employment centers within the city.

The overall cost of living rank in Bamako is 75 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with high cost of living locations. An expatriate moving from Maseru to Bamako will experience a change in cost of living of 29%.
In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Bamako is ranked as an extreme hardship location with a hardship index of 40% compared to Maseru with a hardship index of 30% which is a high degree of hardship location.

Source: http://www.xpatulator.com as at July 2011.