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. or another festival that springs up in the community.
http://temoust.org/ For a Tuareg culture information and news site.
The Tuareg Festival Safari with From Here 2 Timbuktu Christmas mini festival:
Together with the people of Aguelhoc I here recreate the trip that sent me doolally about the Tuareg and the Sahara in Jan 2008.
An amazing adventure to a land and a people living not far removed from their ancestors in the bronze age when the Sahara was open savannah. This time is depicted along with the Tuareg Scripture Tifanagh on the rocks behind my house in Aguelhoc.
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, will swing to electric guitar Sharan blues from the birthplace of Tinariwen and you will be swinging to Saharan blues..
For each person 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.
The Journey
This is a long journey across Mali to the remote desert region of the Adrar Des Iforas Mountains. Your trip can include a number of the following delicacies:
The Festival of Camels - authentic Festival in remote part of the desert put on for locals. You will be among perhaps only 30 tourists at the festival.
Camel Safari through the Adra des Iforas mountains
River Niger Pinasse Boat Trip along the edge of the desert to Timbuktu.
Mini “Fêtes” in and round my Tuareg Community of Aguelhoc - or indeed wherever on our trip we may
stumble upon a party!
The Desert Elephants of Hombori and Mali’s Monument Valley
Spring pools of Azure Tuareg blue in mountain ravines to bath in.
Gao market
Promised throughout:
Sun, Biblical wholesomeness, big wide vistas, bright frocks and funky parties... Oh and a trip to blow your mind to boot! What more can you say!
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. But it is not for everyoneWhilst 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 2010 to 3 Jan 2011
21 Dec 2010 to 11 jan 2011
Itinerary below plus The Festival in the Desert trip to include river boat down the Niger to Timbuktu
February 2011 - with The Festival On The Niger
Mali’s biggest music and arts festival
Listen to Tinariwen
“Thanks From Here 2 Timbuktu for a unique and unforgettable experience! I loved that wild chase across the desert, the colour & life of the markets, the fabulous "biblical" scenes of robes, donkeys, sheep, goats, the spectacular geological formations of the Hombori mountains and the Bandiagara Cliffs, the amazing architecture of mud mosques, straw houses, flat-roofed houses, granaries etc etc Thanks for making all that accessible.”
Anne Harkin, Australia, Tuareg Festival Safari 2009.
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