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A stable country of famous history empires and seemingly endless deserts, Mali is on of West Africa’s most fascinating destinations. A land of contrasts, from the arid inhospitable deserts of the north to the green and tree-lined savannahs of the south, Mali offers a wealth of sites for adventure travellers. Despite its size, the highlights [...]
It is difficult to list a top ten African travel wonders list without leaving out a number of other superb sights. Here is my list. How many have you seen?
1. Mountain Gorillas of Central Africa
It is an indescribable experience to spend an hour visiting an habituated gorilla family in the rain forests of Central Africa. [...]
Gao is a small city (57.000 people), 425 kilometers east of Tombouctou. By car it will take you two days to get there from Tombouctou. After days of sand and dust, arriving in Gao is very special. Suddenly you are in a real city again with a lot of people and even fresh food. From [...]
Well, to be honest, the first couple of times I visited these markets I hated it. I thought it was hot, dirty, disorganised, and at times disorientating. I couldn’t find half the things I was looking for and assumed that everyone who offered to help was involved in a scam of some sort. There were [...]
Imagine a riot of colours and aromas. Street calls, and a jovial atmosphere. That’s Medina Coura Market. You won’t find this in the tourist books but this is the real Bamako.
You’ll also find amazing prices for wonderful fabrics. Do I sound enthusiastic? Well, believe me, this is one of my favourite places, not just [...]
From the city centre get a taxi out towards the zoo and ask the driver to take you to the caves near Point G. The taxi driver will probably ask 3-4000 to take you there because its way out of town. Don’t go to the zoo, it’s a sad sight and will only upset you. [...]
Like a lot of buildings in Bamako, this low Sudanese style market could do with a lick of paint, if only to highlight its presence in the clutter of numerous surrounding pavement stalls. Enclosed within its walls are a variety of workshops and stalls all producing and selling local handicrafts.
The quality of the workmanship [...]
The days when Timbuktu was a fabulous and virtually impossible to reach city are now gone. Nevertheless, in my opinion, it is still a very intriguing place, and spending time exploring it revealed several attractions that are worthy of attention.Perhaps the single greatest pleasure of spending time in the area is wandering around, and getting [...]
In a way I wish I’d never seen photographs of the mosque before I’d seen it. Photos I had seen made me think of some sci-fi distant galaxy empire movie backdrop. When I saw the real thing, I still felt the same, but I thought it was stunning as well. There appear to be no [...]
he so-called Dogon Country is not as famous in the outside world Timbuktu or even Djenné. However, it is definitely somewhere that is truly unique, and which in my opinion should be on the itinerary of every visitor to Mali.
The picturesque geography of the area is among the main reasons for spending some time there. [...]