Mali

Welcome to Mali

Like an exquisite sandcastle formed in a harsh desert landscape, Mali is blessed by an extraordinary amount of beauty, wonders, talents and knowledge. Yet for now, its landscapes, monuments and stories are off-limits, sealed from tourists by a conflict that is threatening the very culture of Mali.

The heart of the nation is Bamako, where Ngoni and Kora musicians play to dancing crowds from all ethnicities, while in the Dogon country villages still cling to the cliffs as they did in ancient times. Further west, Fula women strap silver jewellery to their ears and their belongings to donkeys, forming caravans worthy of beauty pageants as they march across the hamada - the dry, dusty scrubland.

And in the northeast, the writings of ancient African civilisations remain locked in the beautiful libraries of Timbuktu, until a new dawn comes for Mali, and they – and it – can be rediscovered by travellers.

Highlights

Admire Boucle du Baoulé National Park’s prehistoric rock art and exotic wildlife
Hike along the Bandiagara Escarpment to the sheltered Dogon country
Take a pinasse boat tour along the Niger and Bani rivers
Plant a tree whose roots may someday protect Malian farmland from the Sahara Desert
Appreciate the unique mud-brick architecture of Djenné’s Grand Mosque, Timbuktu’s Djinguereber Mosque and the Tomb of Askia
Barter with the merchants at Bamako’s lively La Marché Rose market
Observe – or participate in – one of Mali’s centuries-old salt caravans, which still use camels to transport goods between Timbuktu and Taoudenni