Mali

Mali's rich, strong, exotic culture seems impervious to the influences of the modern world. For thousands of years the savannah region to the south of the Sahara known as the Sahel, has been an important trading and meeting point for people like the Wolof, Tuareg and Hausa from distant lands.

Mali's numerous ethnic groups respect traditions and a way of life that is centuries old, so for outsiders, a glimpse of ordinary life is something extraordinary.

Life bustles in the capital Bamako (home of the great musicians Salif Keita and Oumou Sangare) as well as in Segou, around the mosques of Djenne and the fishing port of Mopti.

Most people live and farm along the banks of the Niger, and boats are a good and easy option for getting around. From Mopti travel along the river to Timbuktu, once an important centre of Islamic learning and a place where salt brought by traders from the North was exchanged for slaves and gold brought from the South.

Beyond Timbuktu there are dunes and camel tours, as well as the 4-wheel drive vehicles for exploring them.

The northern part of the country is desert, populated only by Tuaregs who live around the oases that serve as stepping-stones along the ancient trans-Sahara camel routes.