Build a school this Christmas!
A school is for life not just for Christmas
A Tamashek (Tuareg) Saharan safari to the Adrar des Iforas mountains of northern Mali. Includes:
- a company sponsored mini festival which will fund the building of a school
- 4x4 and camel safaris;
- a larger regional Tuareg Festival, The Festival Of Camels.
Christmas/New Year 2009-2010 trip
Dec 21 Arrive Bamako
Day 22 Fly to Timbuktu,
Day 23 Begin 2 day drive across the desert to Aguelhoc. This day we hug the banks of the Niger River - Saharan sand dunes meeting the river and the beginning of sub-saharan Africa, passing through Tuareg camps and villages. Camp the night close to Borem.
Day 24 Continue drive north to Aguelhoc and our host community.
Day 25 Christmas Day. Relax in the camp with leisurely exploration of the surrounding desert, walk out to see the rock paintings depicting the Sahara teeming with wildlife and the ancient Tuareg scripture, In the evening we have our From Here 2 Timbuktu party. Rock the night away with electric guaitar and tam-tam Saharan blues, dancing and eating. All the colourful robes will be out and you’ll learn to dance Tuareg style. Plus your christmas party will be giving the best present to the community - a school. (see end of slideshow for party).
Day 26 Begin Camel trek to Marat and a short walk into the mountians to the Guelta - a series of cool pools at the source of a river, relax and swim. Camp at the foot of the Guelta.
Day 27 Continue camel trek
Days 28 Camel trek, back to arrive at Tessalit
Day 29 The Festival of Camels
Day 30 Festival of Camels
Day 31 Festival Of Camels
Jan 01 Drive through the Adrar des Iforas mountains and Tilimadelaleine, camping on huge dunes rising up the mountains with wide vitas of the desert. Stunning.
Jan 02 Options to leave the desert for Gao or stay on for the Essouk Festival at an ancient berber and Tuareg site,
Jan 03 Options to:
stay on for Essouk Festival until 5 Jan
fly back to Bamako, end of tour.
fly to Mopti and join the pinasse river boat trip to Timbuktu for the Festival In The Desert (see Festival In The Desert).
Please contact me for further information on these options
The Christmas mini festival:
Together with the people of Aguelhoc I here recreate the festival I stumbled across in Jan 2008. The local nomadic camps will be donating their tents and materials to create a beautiful arena. The robes and the voiles, the boys and the girls and you will be swinging to Saharan blues.. For each of you attending the party I will donate €100 towards building a school for the children of the remote nomadic community who are hosting the party. Once the school rooms are built the state supplies the teachers and fees are free, so hopefully this will be the beginning of new dawn for the children of this community.
This itinerary is subject to change. The festivals in the region are not set to a tourist program so we keep our ear to the ground, remain flexible and have the contacts to inform us of what is happening. But there will always be parties come what may!
This trip is as authentic as it gets, you really are with the nomadic life. It involves some long but spectacular days of 4x4 desert driving. Whilst in the desert you are staying in Tuareg camps, in friends’ houses, out in the open desert or my house - always of course with the essentials: food, water, fire, a mattress and a blanket.
Dates for Tuareg Festival Safari.
21 Dec 2009 - 3 Jan 2010
21 Dec 2009- 13 Jan 2010
Itinerary below plus The Festival in the Desert trip to include river boat down the Niger to Timbuktu and The Festival In The Desert.
Other set dates for trips to the desert.:
September/October2009 - See the desert in bloom after the rains.
4-21 February 2010 - with The Festival On The Niger
Mali’s biggest music and arts festival
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PHOTOS
SLIDESHOWS
