Timbuktu, Mali

For me, the highlight of the trip to Timbuktu was touring the mosque. Many other mosques, like the one in the tourist center of Mopti, do not allow non-Muslims to enter, but Timbuktu was different. If you find yourself there, you will most certainly be afforded the opportunity.

Aside from the mosque, the artisan's market was interesting (as was the "regular" market). There is also the ethnological museum, which houses a few interesting artifacts from Timbuktu's past.

Unfortunately, there isn't much else to recommend about Timbuktu, aside from being a place for a hot meal and a shower upon return from the Sahara. It's a fairly dirty town (even by African standards), and even though the pressure from potential "guides" isn't what you'd experience in Mopti, it's still present unless your current guide is there to shoo them away.

Quick Tips:

If you arrive in January (around the time of the Festival au Desert), you actually will have trouble finding accommodation. Reservations will actually be necessary, believe it or not. I met numerous people who had to sleep in the homes of their guide's friends because hotels had no vacancy, not even on the roof.

Best Way To Get Around:

Use a car. Walking is doable, but be VERY CAREFUL, because Timbuktu has a large amount of open "drainage" ditches from houses. You will be spending a lot of time dodging fluids if you walk a lot in residential areas.

Be advised that as of 2004/2005, the UN has forbidden after-dark road travel with tourists in this region of Mali due to banditry concerns. Do not make concrete plans that depend on you moving on from Timbuktu after dark, as the police will likely turn you back (it happened to friends of mine, and our guide had to "bail" their guide out before they could continue back to Mopti).

We ate here a number of times. They had consistently good food (I hope you like goat and couscous) and a nice atmosphere. It seems to be the "hip" place now in Timbuktu, as it's packed with tourists and local expats from Medecins Sans Frontiers nightly.

Cold beer is available, as is good music and a "dance floor".

Just about anywhere you go in Mali, you'll find people who know people who have a camel or who are musicians or "silversmiths" or whatever. Basically, they're selling something, and you'll have no trouble finding a souvenir trinket or experience. In fact, the only trouble you'll have is figuring out how to haggle properly.

Malians have a "three stage" method of haggling. The first price you're given is never supposed to be the right one. You counter with your incredibly low price (figure about 25% of what you really want to pay). They'll scoff and tell you that they have a family to feed, etc., and then they'll start again.

You counter their second offer with about 50% to 75% of what you want to pay, and then they'll freak out, saying that there's no way they can sell it to you for that little.

Round three begins with their third price barely creeping much lower, but you offer 100% of what you're willing to pay. They'll complain that you're ripping them off and refuse to sell... until you get up to leave, then they'll gladly sell you the item/service. Once you figure, "Hey, I got a GREAT deal on this," you'll find that they now have lots more stuff to sell you, and that your "deal" ended up being more of a deal for THEM than it was for YOU. But that's the fun of haggling. You can afford paying a little more for the trinkets, and when you consider how much they actually make in a year, you don't feel all that bad about getting "ripped off" for an extra $2.