Fact Sheets & Video - Botswana

A landlocked country in West Africa, Mali shares borders with seven other countries. The Niger River and the Senegal River run respectively for 1700 km and 800 km through the south and east of the country, while the northern region forms part of the Sahara Desert.

Located on the southern edge of the Sahara desert and at the top of the River Niger's 'great bend', Timbuktu is the terminus of a camel caravan route across the desert that has linked West Africa and the Mediterranean since ancient times. Gold, ivory and slaves were transported north, eventually making their way to Europe and the Middle East.

In return, West Africans wanted salt which came from former lakes deep in the desert. Timbuktu grew wealthy on the trade, by the 15th century becoming a powerful city-state and influential centre of Islamic learning. Most visitors fly in and out, often spending only a day here.

Djenn is the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa. It is famous for its mud brick architecture, most notably the Great Mosque, rebuilt in 1907. This mosque is actually the third built on this particular site. It stands on a raised plinth measuring 75 meters on a side; its massive shape dominates the surroundings and dwarfs the neighboring buildings.The villages of the Dogon, who live on an escarpment some 200 km long, are built, as conveyed in their mythology, in the shape of people, their head turned toward the north.

The Dogon people are known for their myths, cosmology, and mask dances. The Dogon recreate the large-scale view of the universe and mythology passed down from their ancestors through mask dances performed at funeral ceremonies, the Sigui festival held every sixty years, and the Dama ceremony held once every twelve years to worship the spirits of their ancestors (in the spirit of tourism, the dances are now performed more regularly).

You could be forgiven for thinking Timbuktu is not a real place and most people would be hard pressed to find it on the map. The infamous city of Timbuktu is actually located in the land-locked West African country of Mali, on the southern edge of the Sahara desert.

Mopti is the port which links all of Mali's towns and villages along the Niger. Mopti is built on three islands connected by dykes and is called the Venice of Mali. Given its position at the junction of two rivers - the Bani and Niger river - it has always been an important harbour, where salt, fish and cloth have been traded.

Here you will see massive salt slabs in the port area - the salt slabs were once known as "white gold" because they were traded pound for pound with gold. From November to January, the camel caravans bring these salt slabs from the Taoudenni mines in the center of the Sahara to Timbuktu (some 750km!).

They then sail them down the Niger and sell them in Mopti. Timbuktu is a city populated by the Tamashek (Tuareg), Songhay, Fulani, and Moorish people in the West African country of Mali. Though the city once reached a population of 100,000 these days it is home to only about 15,000.

Today the encroaching sands of the southern Sahara threaten to blanket the city altogether. Timbuktu was established as a seasonal camp by the nomadic Tuareg perhaps as early as the 10th century and grew to great wealth because of its key role in trans-Saharan trade in gold, ivory, slaves, salt and other goods, transferring goods from caravans to boats on the Niger.

Although Timbuktu prided itself on the rigor of its teaching for even the youngest of pupils, visiting traders or travelers were encouraged to enroll while they stayed in the city. Indeed, the people of Timbuktu were reputed to be so philanthropic that they would afford any visitor an education regardless of his means-maintaining that anyone who had endured the journey to their desert metropolis had earned himself a scholarship.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Qantas fly return to Johannesburg. For more information call 13 13 13 or visit their website (listed in the 'Related Links' section of this fact sheet).

Ethiopian Airlines have connecting flights available from Johannesburg to Bamako via Addis Ababa

For details call +251 11 661 6161or visit their website (listed in the 'Related Links' section of this fact sheet)

Peregrine Adventures

For information call 1300 854 500 or visit www.peregrineadventures.com