Mali holidays, cultural tours
| country: | Mali |
| departures: | 2010: 16 Jan, 20 Feb, 20 Mar, 17 Apr, 17 Jul, 14 Aug, 18 Sep, 16 Oct, 20 Nov, 18 Dec |
| price: | From £1390 (13 days) excluding flights. See below for inclusions |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Travellers and explorers alike have been inspired by tales of the fabled city of Timbuktu, once a major stop on the trans-Saharan route through Mali. This is a demanding journey through the exotic crossroads of Mali, where influences from all of the Sahara and West Africa come together. We discover the diverse cultures of this land where the Niger River brings water to the vast and arid Sahara Desert. The nomadic Tuareg or 'blue men of the desert' with their indigo robes and turbans may be seen leading their camel caravans.
The industrious farming and elaborate art of the Dogon people is revealed as we trek across the great sandstone escarpment of the Falaise de Bandiagara. Passing dazzling pink sandstone houses and precariously cropped cliff ledges we may hear the music of the Griots, playing the traditional rosewood kora. To complete the cultural experience, we visit the colourful markets of Djenne, considered to be one of the most vibrant marketplaces in West Africa. As the desert nomads say: "salt comes from the north, silver from the white men's' land, but the word of God, wisdom and the most beautiful stories ever heard come from Timbuktu..."
The industrious farming and elaborate art of the Dogon people is revealed as we trek across the great sandstone escarpment of the Falaise de Bandiagara. Passing dazzling pink sandstone houses and precariously cropped cliff ledges we may hear the music of the Griots, playing the traditional rosewood kora. To complete the cultural experience, we visit the colourful markets of Djenne, considered to be one of the most vibrant marketplaces in West Africa. As the desert nomads say: "salt comes from the north, silver from the white men's' land, but the word of God, wisdom and the most beautiful stories ever heard come from Timbuktu..."
what's included
12 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 4 dinners, English speaking local guide, all camping equipment, trekking in Dogon Country, permits and entry fees, private vehicle transport, private boat on Niger River, 4 nights hotels (sleeping bags are not provided)day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrive Bamako |
| Day 2: | To Djenne |
| Day 3-4: | To Bani River and Sevare via the City of Fish, Mopti |
| Day 5: | To Dogon Country, begin trekking |
| Day 6-7: | Trekking amongst the escarpment villages of Dogon Country |
| Day 8: | Drive to Hombori |
| Day 9: | To Timbuktu |
| Day 10: | Timbuktu and Tuareg nomadic camp |
| Day 11: | To Sevare |
| Day 12: | To Segou |
| Day 13: | Return to Bamako where trip concludes |
highly commended
This tourism business was Highly Commended in our 2006 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards - the largest awards of their kind in the world, and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society. Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment:
Travelling in a small group means we minimise our impact on the harsh environments we travel through. Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while travelling. The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely. Community: Mali is one of the poorest countries on earth and this tour provides many opportunities for travellers to directly benefit local communities and experience genuine cultural exchange. Your trip is led by a local leader, providing employment for them, the drivers and other crew involved. The vehicles are regularly maintained providing extra work for local mechanics and travelling on local pinasse ensures more regular income for the boat owners and their crew. You stay at locally owned hotels along your journey and eat at local restaurants, which ultimately means your money is directly benefiting the local economy. When staying in villages we do the responsible thing and seek permission from the village chief to ensure we abide by the local customs and rules. Your guide will brief you on how to conduct yourself appropriately during your journey to ensure you minimise your chances of offending people in this country which sees very little tourism. Your guide will also explain where you can purchase souvenirs from smaller communities and take in optional performances designed to assist village incomes. Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travellers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travellers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |