FID

Guy Lankester

email guy@fromhere2timbuktu.com

Tel: +44 (0)7970 050549

Oumou Sangare - Sina

Tour Price €2650

All inclusive except flights and visas

(see Trip Notes and Booking Conditions)

27 Dec 2009 - 12 Jan 2010 Max 12 people

Order: Djenne - Dogon - river Niger to Timbuktu - Festival

Send me this price and itinerary

30 Dec 2009 - 15 Jan 2010 Max 8 people

Order: Djenne - Dogon - Timbuktu - Festival - river Niger to Mopti.

Send me this price and itinerary

2 - 19 Jan 2010 Max 8 people

Order: Djenne - Timbuktu - Festival - river Niger to Mopti - Dogon

Send me this price and itinerary

All to arrive in Bamako the day before the trip starts.

Bamako - Djenne - Dogon Country trek - Niger River Timbuktu - Festival In The Desert - Bamako

The Festival In The Desert 2010

Mali is really two countries - separated from each other geographically by the great River Niger.

To the north of the river the Sahara desert, home to the Tamashek (Tuareg) nomads since - well no one really knows. Their ancient language Tifinagh is related to Phoenician and Hebrew. Are they the lost tribe of Israel? They live amongst their own, no one else chooses to live where they live, or has the know how.

To the south is the sahel, Arabic for fringe or edge, where desert gives way to semi-desert and the Inland River Niger Delta draws us towards more tropical climes. Bambara, Malinke, Dogon, Peul and Bozo peoples have cohabited for centuries. Agriculturalists living with nomadic cattle herders and settled fishing peoples, all supplying key elements in a finely balanced chain. Throughout history Mali has been a region of peoples sharing space, each tribe with its own role, its own purpose, living amongst others.

Historically, these two regions were very distinct, linked by the trading city of Timbuktu. In Timbuktu the homogenous north meets the heterogeneous south.

The Festival In The Desert trip takes you through the principle regions of the south to Djenne, the Dogon Country and Mopti before you chart the Niger River for three days to Timbuktu.

The Festival is a spectacular introduction to the world of the north, the Tamashek and the Sahara desert. Situated in Essakane, 70kms north west of Timbuktu, the festival treads well the fine line of being a Tamashek festival which brings in southern Malian and international elements.

The three itineraries that I have published all cover the same ground. They differ only in that they have the elements of the trip in different orders. All take you to:

Djenne - a World Heritage city situated on an island in the Bani river. This ancient city is built entirely in mud and it is home to the biggest mud building in the world - The Grand Mosque. Here we stay in a hotel.

Dogon Country Treking - 3 days of trekking down and along the bottom of, and back up the Dogon Escarpment, through the villages of the traditionally animist Dogon. Landscape and culture mix to give an experience of mystery and other worldly strangeness.

We cover about 8 kms a day, 4 in the morning and 4 in the late afternoon, with a long lazy lunch/rest out of the midday heat. At night we sleep on the roofs of village hotels, beneath the brilliant canopy of stars so important to the Dogon belief systems. You need reasonable fitness. All meals are provided.

The River Niger

The life line of the region and the source of the wealth of the various empires that have risen and fallen over the millennia , the Niger is the third largest river in Africa after the Nile and the Congo. It’s source is only 200 kms from the sea in Guinea, but it makes a 2000 km inroad into the centre of the continent towards the Sahara. At Timbuktu it seems to realise it’s mistake and begins a slow bend south and west to head through Niger and Nigeria before spilling out another 2000 kms later in the Niger Delta.

Our trip is through the Inland River Niger Delta between Mopti and Timbuktu. Depending on which itinerary you choose, you will be going either down river to or up river from Timbuktu. We take a traditional wooden river boat called a pinasse, cooking and eating as we go, stopping off at Bozo and Peul villages and the towns of Niafunke, inspiration to Ali Farka Toure - the Godfather of Malian music - and Dire to catch the weekly market.

At night we make camp by the river.

This part of the trip is a chance to relax and take in the tranquil pace of life and the serene beauty of the river, so evocatively described in Ali Farka Toure’s music. The climate can be changeable and you need to be prepared for some cold winds at times (see To Bring list).

Timbuktu

Historically and geographically where the two worlds, the Sahara and sub-Saharan Africa meet and have traded over the centuries, and of course because of this it has its mythic and symbolic significance for the western imagination. Timbuktu should not be described, like Mohammed should not be depicted. It is enough for it to be achieved, for the journey to be made - I leave the rest to the imagination.

From Timbuktu we travel 70 kms to the north west to Essakane for The Festival In The Desert, where we have our own camp. You will be in Tuareg tents and all meals are provided. The desert can get very cold at night so, again, look at the To Bring list or trip notes for more. But if you bring only one thing from the list be it thermals! Oh and a second - a fancy festival shirt!