Tuareg Mali

Guy Lankester

Tel: +44 (0)7970 050549

A journey to Aguelhoc in the Adrar des Iforas mountains, the heartland of Tuareg culture in the Sahara of the north of Mali.

Tuareg Mali - Desert Safari

...from here

Timbuktu

A trip to Aguelhoc and the Adrar des Iforas mountains trip can be organised for you at any time of year. The best times are between August and April/May.

I will be running small group trips for:

11-27 September 2009 €2250

3-23 October 2009 (with Dogon Country trek) €2550

19 Dec 2009 - 3 Jan 2010 see: Tuareg Festival Safari €2450

3 - 23 Feb 2010 - with Festival On The Niger €2350

Deserts have always been my favourite landscape - the peace, the silence, the clarity of the air, the depth of the night sky . And nomadic people, especially the Tuareg, have long held a mysterious fascination in my imagination. The Festival In The Desert was born out of a long tradition of Tuareg gatherings or parties in the desert where nomadic clans meet, eat, sing and dance to their sophisticated desert blues music.

Fantastic as the Festival In The Desert is, it is organised with tourists in mind and after a few festivals I still felt that I didn’t know the Tuareg - they remained mysterious and aloof and, I felt , difficult to approach, different from the Africa I knew.

I wanted to see the world beyond, discover the people as they are, day to day. Always, that is the most enriching experience you can have in Africa - to live with the people.

In January 2008 I travelled off to the north of Mali, deep into the Sahara. I didn’t know where I was going only that I was looking for one of these Tuareg gatherings of which I’d heard so much - an authentic desert party.

In Gao, the gateway city to the Tuareg heartland of the Adrar des Ifforas mountains, I met Sarid and his son Rhissa on the banks of the river Niger. They became my guide and chauffeur, and we set off for their camp 500kms north deep in the Sahara.

They showed me seas of sand dunes amidst mountains of granite, with bronze age paintings and ancient Tuareg script painted on the rocks; azure blue spring lakes above verdant oases. We slept wherever we liked beneath a thick ceiling of stars - a blanket, a mat, a fire to cook on, the hospitality of nomadic camps if need be - the bare essentials holding the key to a deep calm, We lunched in relatives’ camps, chased gazelle across open plains, spied jackals howling on mountain ridges at dawn.

As I was about to leave news came through that a 3 day party was about to take place - exactly what I was looking for.

Three large leather tents adorned with Tuareg leather-work arranged in a semi-circle, around a dance floor of carpets. Women and men dressed to the nines in their colourful flowing robes dancing in the moonlight to a live, electric guitar and tam-tam band, playing Saharan rhythms deep into the night.

As Rhissa expertly drove us back across the desert for me to leave, Sarid was concerned as I stared out of the window entranced by my experience and the landscape: “Gaye, you say nothing, are you sad?”

I was sad to be leaving. But my silence was the result of an extraordinary happiness I felt so calm and more certain of my identity and my destiny than ever before.

A proud, humble, sophisticated people, gentle and resilient, the Tuareg had kept me with the hospitality and the security of a people who know their ancient land with deep roots like no others ever could.

I offer you Sarid and his son Rhissa as guides, Talla and her children, their camels, goats and sheep as our welfare and the people of Aguelhoc as hosts; our own authentic Tuareg party; a desert safari by 4x4s and camels, Timbuktu and The Festival of Camels.

Day 1 Arrive Bamako, transfer to Segou (3 hrs).

Day 2 Segou to the World Heritage City of Djenne with its Grand Mosque.

Day 3 Djenne to Homboroi - the Monument Valley of Mali, and onto Gao. Gao is a pleasant trading city on the banks of the Niger. Full of colour and spice, desert meets river port.

Day 4 Day in Gao. Visit the colourful daily market and the port, prepare for the desert.

Day 5 Drive across the desert to Aguelhoc.

Day 6 Day of rest. Relax at the camp, walk out to see the rock paintings depicting the Sahara teeming with wildlife and the ancient Tuareg scripture, Tafina.

Day 7 Drive out 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.

Days 8 - 10 Options of camel trekking from Tillimadelalaine to Essouk and/or 4x4 safari of the Adrar des Iforas mountains and the camps and villages of the region.

Day 11 Drive to Borem on the Banks of the River Niger

Day 12 Follow the River Niger through the desert and on to Timbuktu

Day 13 Timbuktu - visit the mosque, the ancient library and optional tour of the town

Day 14 Continue journey to Lere - this is the back route back towards Bamako through the edge of the Sahara and the waterlands of the Inland River Niger Delta

Day 15 To Segou

Day 16 Day of rest in Segou. From here it is 4 hours to Bamako. Option to stay on in Segou or return to Bamako. This tour ends here.

Alternative to this itineray: an 8-10 day trip from and back to Gao. This option requires you to either fly into Gao with Point Afrique, fly from Bamako to Gao or to get yourself to Gao. For more information on this option please contact me.