Timbuktu (Mali)

Timbuktu (or Toumbouctou) is a name synonomous with somewhere difficult to get to, mysterious and mythical. To say you have been "to Timbuktu and back" is a well recognised phrase, and there is still a smug satisfaction to be had from being able to say that you actually have been to Timbuktu and back as even today this is no mean feat. It has many times been said that the joy of travelling is not so much in arriving at a place as in the ...
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I went to Timbuktu in 2001 and it is probably one of the most memorable travel experiences I have ever had. The town sits on the edge of the Sahara desert, about 10km from the port of Kabara on the River Niger. Since then a new airport has been built, but by all accounts flights are infrequent and you are more likely to encounter snow in Mali than a plane leaving the day it is scheduled to. As someone who visited the place when there were ... more

Timbuktu (or Toumbouctou) is a name synonomous with somewhere difficult to get to, mysterious and mythical. To say you have been "to Timbuktu and back" is a well recognised phrase, and there is still a smug satisfaction to be had from being able to say that you actually have been to Timbuktu and back as even today this is no mean feat. It has many times been said that the joy of travelling is not so much in arriving at a place as in the journey and I think this is especially true in West Africa.

I went to Timbuktu in 2001 and it is probably one of the most memorable travel experiences I have ever had. The town sits on the edge of the Sahara desert, about 10km from the port of Kabara on the River Niger. Since then a new airport has been built, but by all accounts flights are infrequent and you are more likely to encounter snow in Mali than a plane leaving the day it is scheduled to. As someone who visited the place when there were no flights there I would always recommend travelling overland.

The main routes to Timbuktu go through the Malian town of Mopti. Here you can pay someone to drive you (which costs about £150 and takes about 24 hours), or travel along the Niger. Passenger steamers go up and down the river, apparently once a week, although this does vary. Try to avoid making this trip from November to Feb as the water levels can get too low for the steamers to pass through. The trip takes about 4 to 5 days, but be warned, the steamers are overcrowded, hot and dirty.

A preferable way to travel (IMHO) is to go down to the port at Mopti and ask which Pinasses (medium sized wooden boats which carry cargo up and down the river) are due to leave in the next couple of days. This was the option we plumped for and for around £35 managed to secure a passage, along with about 10 other people, on a boat carrying rice up the river. The journey took 5 days, but food (mainly goat, dried fish and rice) was included in the price of the passage and we had the opportunity to stop off at several small Bozo (a fishing people) villages along the way.

Once you arrive at Kabara it is a short taxi ride to Timbuktu, normally with around 10 - 20 other people crammed in the back of a landrover or Peugeot 405.

There are two main hotels in the town - I stayed at the Bouctou which is the cheaper of the two but I found it clean and friendly, although slightly overpriced. There are cheaper rooms available in an annexe but these just had a matress on the floor and were incredibley stuffy and hot. One highlight which I will never forget is going down to the bar to find around 50 Tuareg men sitting watching re-runs of the soap Dallas dubbed into French. I don't know what I though nomadic traders would watch on tv but 1980s American soaps wasn't top of the list!

Food is basic, but there is a good market in the centre of town with a reasonable selection of fruit and veg for sale which comes up the river. There are also a couple of cheap restaurant who will serve you some kind of meat with rice and sand - that is one thing about Mali - don't go there if you can't cope with sand, it gets everywhere, including in your food!

Timbuktu itself at first appears to made of sand with the mud buildings rising up out of the desert. It started life in the 11th century as a Tuareg settlement, and today there are around 15,000 people living here, although the encrouching desert and recent droughts are threatening Timbuktu. The Tuareg are still one of the main ethnic groups in this area of Mali, and still make their living from trading - mainly in salt - camel caravans stilla rrive a couple of times a year, although you will also see fine Tuareg silverwares for sale. During the middle ages Timbuktu was a very wealthy city, acting as a cross roads for the Sahara and a key trading post for gold, salt, ivory and slaves. At it's peak it had a population of 100,000 and was an established centre of learning. You can still see some of the manuscripts from this time in the University of Sankore.

If you make it to Timbuktu, also be sure to visit the Djinguereber Mosque, the oldest of Timbuktu's mud mosques and the only one visitors are allowed to enter. From the roof there is a wonderful view over the town and accross to the sand dunes which lie on the edge of the Sahara. Also worth seeing in the town are the houses in which some of the European explorers of the 19th century lived. In 1824 the French Geographical Society offered a cash prize to the first expedition from any nation to visit Timbuktu and return to tell the tale. Many tried and didn't even reach Mali, never mind Timbuktu, but (if my memory serves me correctly) three men did make the journey there and it is their houses which are still standing, with plaques on them in much the same way as London has its blue plaques.

If you yearn to get out into the desert there are sand dunes a short walk from the town, although don't go too far without a guide. For the more adventureous you can arrange a trip into the desert north of Timbuktu with local Tuareg and spend a night or two under the stars. Travel is by camel - and be warned, this is not a comfortable form of travel! However, the Tuareg families of the men we travelled with were incredibly welcoming and to meet a nomadic group of people at in their own environment is a privilige. Again, we were fed and watered and offered enough tea to sink an army, although ettiquette says that you should accept three glasses and then decline the fourth.

I understand there are now more organised trips to Tuareg camps where you also get to see a sword show but this all seems slightly staged to me in comparison with the trip I made.

A finl stop which has to be made is the local police - in Mali you are obliged to register with the police in many of the main towns. This is a simple procedure only taking about 10 minutes, and you do get a 'Timbuktu' stamp in your passport - worth it for that at least!

At night in Timbuktu there is not a lot to do except sit back and have a couple of drinks, chat to the locals and let the word go by. For anyone expecting to see Lawrence of Arabia emerging from the desert, old colonial buildings and a nightlife comparible to that of Marakesh you will be dissapointed. However, if you are interested in history and want to visit one of the few places in the world where tourism hasn't taken over and spoilt a place then Timbuktu is for you. It may be awkward to get to, incredibly hot and incredibly sandy but I wouldn't have missed my trip there for the world.

 

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