Timbuktu Things to Do

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In the dusty area close to the Sankoré mosque and the Grand Marché I saw lots of streetstalls. In most of the stall they sell firewood and charcoal.

I wonder which one the trees in this area could be the 100 years old wild date tree of which is told that the former slaves who were brought to the market were tied by their feet to.

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On our way from the Djingereber Great Mosque to the explorer house of Gorden Laing we saw some boys sitting in the street with the wooden tablets with Quran verses (picture 1 & 2).

They sat in front of a building signposted as Ecole pour Talibes (picture 3, 4 & 5). This Ecole pour Talibes is a Koranic school or Madrasa. Talibes are young boys, who are sent to a Koranic School to study the Koran, from a very young age, sometimes when they are only 5. JMostly one boy in a family is sent to this Ecole the Talibes.

Our guide told us that this Ecole pour Talibes also is an orphanage. Probably or hopefully this means providing also food and a roof above the heads of those orphans.

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The area around the Grand Marché has a lively streetlife. Ther are a lot of local women in their colourfull dresses, selling and buying vegetables and spices in the streetstalls and meeting each other. For transport you see lot of donkey carts.

Because of the liveliness I enjoyed more my walk in the streets than my visit to building of the the Grand Marché.

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You can visit the rooftop of the Grand Marché in the centre of the old town. Form here you will have a 360 degree view of the city. Not very spectacular, but it gives anyway an imgae how the old city looks like with the mudbrick houses.

You can get a glimpse of the Sankoré mosque (picture 3) and have a relaxed view at what's going on n th streets below with all kind of business in the shops and streetstalls (picture 1 & 2). And I am always intrigued by the world of wires (picture 5). If you are lucky there is a little breeze and you can enjoy a drink at the covered terrace.

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The Grand Marché of Timbuktu is a two storey building in the centre of the old town. There is all kind of stuff for sale like spices, clothes, kitchen utensiles. Not very spectacular, but I always like to visit local markets to see what's going on and what's for sale to get a imagination of the daily life and goods.

We could walk around in a relaxed way. It was not very crowded during our visit. You can take ste stairs up to go to the rooftop for a view at the city or a drink or snack in one of the bars of restaurants at the roof.

I didn't visit the museum. I passed it on my way from the Sidi Yahiya Mosque to the explorer house of Heinrich Barth and couldn't find the time later to come back.

At the innercourt of the museum is the well of Bouctou. You can still see the well. This is the place where Timbuktu was founded and got its name. Tombouctou comes from the two Songhay words Tom and Bouctou. Tom means 'water well', and Bouctou means ' belly button' and was the name of the lady who owned the well. The wells was the meeting point for the tradesmen travelling across the Sahara to subsaharan Africa.

The travelguide writes there are photographs, clothes, music instruments an jewellary dsiplayed in the museum. Not that spectacular that I regret I missed it.

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When are strolling around in the old town of Timbuktu you will see many lovely wooden doors. The doors are richily ornamented with knockers (picture 2), panels and studs (picture 3 & 4)of metal. Baba gave us an explanation about the doors (picture 1).

Some people purchased these old authentic doors to ship them home. You can also buy a new one at the carpenter shop (picture 5) around the corner and leave the old ones where they belong.

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In the 15th century Timbuktu was a major centre of Islamic literature and scholarship. Nowadays Timbuktu is home to the highest concentration of manuscript collections, public and privat, in West Africa. In the about 60 private libraries the manuscripts have survived during many centuries and generations. It is supposed that about 1.000.000 manuscripts in the region may have survived.

Now families are reassembling their collections, building libraries or put the mansucripts in hands of expert caretakers. In 1970 UNESCO founded the Ahmed Baba Institute as a national repository and conservation centre for the manuscripts of the region. Today about 30.000 manuscripts are being conserved, catalogued and studied by a trained team of national and international experts. In the future the new building opposite the Sankoré mosque can house 300.000 manuscripts.

Many of the manuscripts are related to the islam, like parts of the koran, sufi writings, islamic sciences of astronomy and mathematics. But there are also historical chronicles, poetry, contracts, correspondences and notes on several subjects. The manuscripts range from books to small fragments of paper.

Unfortunately I had too less time in Timbuktu to visit libraries, but I was surprised to find some old manuscripts from several areas in the gallery in the house where former ecxplorer Gordon Laing has stayed.

About the mansucripts of Timbuktu an interesting book is published in 2008, called 'The hidden treasures of Timbuktu, Historic City of Islamic Africa'.