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 of Mali can be visited in a couple of weeks on of one many adventure holidays in Mali.

Adventure holidays in Mali range from cultural journeys to desert safaris and offer a fascinating insight to this often overlooked West African country. Some of the best adventure holidays in Mali are those that visit the infamous city of Timbuktu. Timbuktu is steeped in history and offers travellers architectural attractions that include exquisitely beautiful mosques and tombs that date to the medieval era. A visit here is often the highlight of any holiday in Mali.

However, other popular adventure holidays in Mali involve such activities as visiting the Dogon Country; a wilderness of rock, shrub, barren sands and traditional villages, camel riding, desert camping, attending cultural festivals like Essakane Festival, and enjoying a river cruise along the famous Nile from Mopti; an active river port town to Timbuktu; the renowned historic city.

It’s also possible to do an overland tour where you can combine a holiday in Mali with a holiday in countries such as Senegal, Gambia, Benin, Togo, Mauritania and Burkina Faso as well. This is the ultimate West African adventure.

Adventure holidays here are not as numerous as in other African destinations but your rewards for visiting this beautiful country will be huge.

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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. With over 98% commonality of DNA with human beings, you can sense and feel their emotions and familial ties. A family group which varies from 8 to 20 is led by an alpha male – the silverback – with a silvery blanket of hair down his back. Seriously endangered, tourism is their only chance of survival.

2. Wildlife Safari in East Africa

The African rift valley offers the most remarkable variety of wildlife to view anywhere on Earth. Across the protected game parks in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia, seeing the great African wildlife is a special experience to savor. Way beyond reading National Geographic, seeing in real life a pride of lions stalking and hunting down its prey gets your heart racing. Vultures and jackals hover nearby for their share of the feast. Many plan to see the so-called Big Five, the buffalo, elephant, lion, rhinoceros and leopard, along with the familiar antelope, giraffes, zebras and wildebeest, along with a wide variety of colorful birds.

3. Pyramids and Sphinx of Egypt

The Great Pyramids of Giza, just outside Cairo, have stood and overseen over 5000 years of Egyptian history. These giants structures stand in a stark sandy desert expanse while local touts sell camel rides or their various crafts, souvenirs and knick-knacks. The nightly light and sound show describes the rich history with colorful lights and lasers.

4. Victoria Falls

The locals describe it as the “The Smoke that Thunders” in their native language, where plumes of spray from the thunderous water can be seen for miles around as the calm waters of the mile-wide Zambezi River plunges well over 100 yards into the deep gorge below. These famous waterfalls change mood across the year from the dry to the wet seasons and often appear with dazzling rainbows in the misty spray.

5. Nile River and Egyptian Temples

Small armies of river boats travel the famed Nile River between Luxor and Aswan in central Egypt. From the cool of the boat, you can enjoy the narrow fertile strip of land being intensively farmed in much the same manner as it has sustained the population for centuries. This thin strip of greenery is the only break from the desolate Saharan sands which seem to extend forever. Luxor’s Temple of Karnak is an ancient construction on an unequaled scale with pillars, carvings, ceremonial lakes and temples extending over an area beyond a mile by half a mile. The pharaohs’ final resting places sit on the opposite bank of the Nile in the Valley of the Kings – a stark, empty ravine.

6. Sahara Desert

Incredibly hot by day and surprisingly cool by night, the dry vastness of the Sahara Desert is striking in its beauty. Eroded over the centuries by wind, jagged mountains, rocky escarpments and sweeping sand dunes detail a harsh terrain. The small oasis towns reveal a battle for survival over the many centuries, the refreshing patches of green highlighting the invaluable resource of water.

7. Moroccan Cities of Marrakesh and Fes

With their souks woven like ancient mazes, Marrakesh and Fes both boast remarkable medinas (walled-in areas of the town) which ignite every human sense. Rich in craft shops (tanners, textile makers, dressmakers, jewelers and carpet weavers), food stalls and teashops (with their enchanting sweet mint tea), the alluring aroma of spices clash with the nasty odors of the dye pits. Every night, Marrakesh’s immense Djemaa el Fna square becomes a virtual circus of snake charmers, fortune tellers, jugglers, comedians, spruikers and magicians as you enjoy the tasty delights from the variety of fresh food stalls and juice bars.

8. Dogon Villages of Mali

The Dogon people live in simple villages along the imposing 120 mile Bandiagara Cliff. Their strange adobe (mud-brick) houses are built along the cliff edge providing areas to sleep and relax, common areas for village meetings and for storage of grain. The houses are remarkably cool in this hot arid area.

9. Leptis Magna

Africa’s most significant Roman ruin overlooks the dazzling Mediterranean Sea. Being a major Roman city in its time, Leptis Magna includes the ruins of athletic arenas, theaters, markets and temples, along with the traditional central Roman Forum.

10. Zanzibar

The Spice Islands are a haven, providing a chance for a relaxing break from African travel and game parks. It has a number of sights with its Arabic heritage, the old Stone Town and tropical palm-fringed sandy beaches. The maze of ancient alleyways and narrow lanes are lined with whitewashed houses with superbly carved wooden doors. Culturally separate from the African mainland, small bazaars and gleaming tiled mosques provide mouthwatering cultural walks, between relaxing sun-baking sessions on the beach.

Africa has a wide variety of attractions and travel wonders to experience from the Arabic north through the jungles of central Africa to the rich jungles of southern Africa. Travel with a spirit of discovery and enjoyment to experience this wonderful and diverse continent.

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Gao Boots

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 Gao to the south the land is turning more green again.

Besides a market and a busy harbour there is little to see and do in Gao. But there is a large sanddune north of the city that is worth a visit. The huge red dune is on the banks of the river Niger. The view from the top of the dune is magnificent and the boattrip to get there is very nice. On your way there you can see the local bathing and washing in the river and see the little sailing ships come by. From Gao it is possible to rent a pinasse to bring you to the dune. Just ask around in the harbour. It takes about 1 hour to get there.

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Marche Rosee

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 so many people that the narrow alleys between the stalls were impassable at times, and in the wider unpaved lanes there was a free for all between pedestrians, cyclists, and motorbikes.

Unlike the Artisanat market, here there was no time to linger for a second as you were literally pushed on by the crowds. A few weeks later I was reluctantly persuaded into going to the Marchée Rose area with a friend, and this time I felt completely different about the place. Because I didn’t actually have anything I needed to buy, I found it a much more leisurely experience. I realized that it was perfectly acceptable to barge through the crowd if the need arose, and that just standing repeating “Excusez-moi” was a non-starter in Mali. Thus, I learned the Malian version of crowd surfing by using the crowd to carry and deposit me at the stall of my choice.

Furthermore, if you need to stop for a rest then just ask a shopkeeper if you can sit on their bench or step. They usually agree on the grounds that you become a customer attraction and by extension, an endorsement of their goods. It almost always leads to interesting conversations. There is little pressure to buy, and a lot of the people who offer help are actually just nice people. Can you imagine a shopkeeper in the U.K. leaving his shop unattended in order to show you the way to another shop that sells similar items? Yet, to many Malians it is a basic courtesy to assist a stranger, even if it means leaving their work unattended. So not all offers of help are the precursor to a scam.

I also discovered that the market area does have an internal logic and that “types” of items for sale are often clustered together, with stalls selling similar items. Stalls selling children’s clothes, nylon bras, suit material, motor cycle parts, grain, second-hand clothes, prayer mats, very glittery shoes, and cosmetics all have there own product–specific area of the marketplace. It’s not rigid, but it’s there, and once you get the hang of it then the market is much easier to negotiate. If, like me after just a couple of brief visits, you decide you don’t like the Marchée Rose or surrounding street markets then give it just one more go. You might just change your mind.

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Bamako Hills and Caves

The caves have been inhabited from early times. Recently attempts have been made to make them more attractive to tourists and you will find new placards telling you a little about them. Look for the wall paintings.

Spend a little time looking at the view. You will be able to see almost all the city from there. There is another viewpoint on the other side of the main road, but the road is not good and your taxi driver may not like to take his vehicle up there. For either place expect to pay 250 cfa to a guardian (think of it as a parking charge!).

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Artinasat and Fetish Market

The quality of the workmanship is variable, but the prices reasonable. There is a reasonable, but not unbearable, amount of hassling goes on. The range of goods on display is fairly comprehensive and the market is a good place to get an idea of what’s available, and rough price guides BEFORE setting off round Mali.It’s also a good place for last minute shopping before leaving Mali. It will almost certainly be your introduction to the tribe of ‘Bon Prix’! You will find that nearly everyone who tries to sell you something in Mali is called ‘Monsieur Le Bon Prix’ and you can guarantee that his prices are the lowest to be found in the country despite what his fellow ‘Bon Prix’ tells you.

The problem with this and most touristy type shopping areas in Mali is that if you look at something for more than a nanosecond then you’re immediately subject to a sales pitch that’s positively exhausting. I spent ages trying to convince one shopkeeper that some of us would be more likely to buy something if we were left to browse quietly. I did discover, however, one way of alleviating the problem. Find out when there’s an important football match playing on TV and go to the Artisanat while the game is on. At least half the shopkeepers and craftsmen are huddled around the TV sets that have been brought out into the central courtyard, and they wouldn’t notice if the Martians had landed. You can almost browse at your leisure then. Unfortunately, they’re not such big footie fans in the fetish market and browsing is discouraged, in some cases aggressively. Yes, the shrivelled dead things and lumps of stuff for sale make a wonderful photo opportunity but that’s not the attraction. It’s the fact that you are staring at the unknown and you want to find out some answers.

What do you do with a dead cat-like animal? What is that ground up brown powder and what do you do with it? Why is that man yelling at me to go away? A visit to the fetish market can be slightly unnerving so I wouldn’t call it a ‘must see’. It is however, an interesting experience and would love to find out more about the uses of some of the things for sale.

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Dogon Country

The picturesque geography of the area is among the main reasons for spending some time there. The defining feature of the local landscape is the 100-mile long Bandiagara Escarpment, which separates a rocky plateau from the dusty plain below. The countryside is not only picturesque, but is also particularly good terrain for hiking, especially in the vicinity of the cliff.

However, what makes the place really special is the utterly distinctive culture of the local tribe that it is named after. Numbering around 300,000 people, they moved into the vicinity several centuries ago in order to avoid the encroachment of Muslim tribes. The migration proved to be so successful that the way of life has survived to this day pretty much intact, thanks mainly to the rugged and remote nature of the territory. The animist religion and cosmology is a remnant of the traditions that once predominated in the region, and is renowned for both elaborate rituals and intriguing artistic expression. To be honest, it is far too complex to explain here, and anyway learning something about the beliefs from the friendly locals is probably the most fascinating aspect of being in the area.

The villages, especially those along the foot of the escarpment, are not only aesthetically unusual and very attractive, but are also physical representations of the traditional ways, especially the intricately carved wooden doors and window shutters that feature symbolic designs from the mythology. The mud-covered granaries, which have conical straw roofs and that stand on stone plinths for protection against pests, are another common sight. Every settlement also has a squat dry stone thatched building where the older males gather to socialise and debate issues. Meanwhile, carved into the rock face are the former dwellings of the Tellem, the mysterious original inhabitants, which have long since become burial chambers.

Although hiring someone in Bankass or Sanga to give a guided tour and act as an interpreter is by no means essential, it is undoubtedly extremely beneficial. Otherwise the level of cultural understanding gained will be minimal, there is the danger of causing accidental offence, and missing best hikes and places to stay, as well as the most interesting things to see, is a real possibility.

Finally, it is even more vital than usual to practise responsible travel. The way of life has only continued due to lengthy isolation, and thoughtless tourism could easily succeed where history has previously failed. Dressing appropriately, bringing one’s own water, resisting the temptation to hand out frivolous gifts, and other such common sense measures are critical.

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