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Pro
it is just one of those must sees on the lifelong list
Con
Sewage, rubbish...
In a nutshell
Dig hard...
The Djingereber or Great Mosque
sachara Says: The Djingereber or Great Mosque is the oldest mosque of the three major mosques of Timbuktu. The mosque is built in1327 by Mansa Musa. The architect Al-Saheli came from Andalusia. Musa met him in Cairo on his way to Mekka. This mosque is a good example of the Sudanic...
sachara Says: 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...
Ecole pour talibes, koranic school
sachara Says: 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...
sachara Says: 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...
sachara Says: 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...
sachara Says: 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...
sachara Says: At the rooftop of the Grand Marché I saw a terrace sheltered against the sun. This is a nice place to have a drink and a overview of the town at the same time. There are a few restaurants at the rooftop too, like 'le Souvenir' (picture 2), mentioned in the lonely planet and...
sachara Says: Because I only stayed shortly in Timbuktu before and after visiting the Festival au Desert in Essakane, I only had meals in the restaurant of my hotel Colombe.The loveliest place was the restaurant at the first floor at the streetside (picture 1). From here you can get a...
African sunsets, full moon and thousand stars
sachara Says: African sunsets, full moon and thousand stars, what more do you need? Sunsets in Africa and in the desert are often spectacular. The sanddunes and the camels in Essakane were the perfect setting for the sunset (picture 2 & 3). The full moon (picture 4) made it even more...
SirRichard Says: Reaching Timbuktu is sometimes hard and it's part of its charm. But once you are there, the way back can be a little hard and have lost its charm once you have done it before.So I thought it would be a good idea to reserve a flight back to Bamako with MAE. I don't regret,...
sachara Says: One way to reach Timbuktu is to take a pinasse from Mopti to Timbuktu. The journey will take about 3 days. A pinasse or pirogue is a shallow canoe like boat. The smaller ones can be paddled or punted. Sometimes a sail or motor is added. The bigger boats have always a...
sachara Says: We came to Timbuctu by road. We travelled in a closed truck with busseats. We left from Mopti/Sévaré early morning for the trip of 325 km. The first part from Sévaré to Douentza was by tarred road and rather comfrotable. It took us three and half hour. From Douentza we took...
Anywhere in Timbuktu: Silver in Timbuktu
flynboxes Says: There is no shope so to speak as the Taureg will come to you or set up at your hotel. They will bargain and their first price is a joke. Be prepared to walk away and you will get the best deals. Some of the silver pieces will have the makers name stamped in the back or you...
Fenced dwellings for livestock in the streets
sachara Says: Strolling around in the backstreets of Tmbuktu, I saw at several places that inhabitants kept their livestock, mainly goats in front of their houses.They just took a small part of the street and fencec and sheltered it for the goats. And doesn't look like a problem for...
sachara Says: Strolling in the alleyways of Timbuktu we saw several clay ovens in the street (picture 1 & 2). The ovens are made of mudbricks and clay (picture 3). Baba our guide explained us that here the women bake the local bread in the morning. We didn't see any oven in use, but some...
sachara Says: The Tuareg nomads are well known as the 'masters of the desert'. For centuries they protected -or raided- the camel caravans crossing the Sahara desert. Sometimes they also took control of Timbuktu in case of political absence of overlords.The Tuareg nomads call themselves...
Buried under the blowing desert sands
sachara Says: In some older parts of the old town you can see that the doors of the old houses are below street level. Sometimes almost one meter. The desert sands started to bury the houses under the sand here. To reach the groundlevel of the houses from the street, you have to take two...
sachara Says: Strolling in the alleyways of Timbuktu after we visited the house of the explorer René Cailié, I looked up and saw something I never saw before at any of my trips in the about 120 countries I visited. On the electric wires aboce my head I saw something what looked like a...
Festival au Desert in Essakane: desert blues
sachara Says: The reason why I came to Timbuktu in January 2009 was to attend the Festival au Desert 70 km north west of Timbuktu. The mix of desert, camels, Tuareg and African music was very tempting for me. We camped in the dunes in front of the main stage behind a dune ridge used as...
Festival au Desert: afternoon program
sachara Says: During the day you could rest after the late nigth, walk around the festival area, enjoy the white sanddunes and the camels, visit the artisan market, have a chat or Tuareg tea. Sometimes there were small performances and conferences. In the afternoon from 5 pm till about 7...
Plan a Timbuktu vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Timbuktu locals
There is no shope so to speak as the Taureg will come to you or set up at your hotel. They will bargain and their first price is a joke. Be prepared to walk...
11 members live in Timbuktu
Q: Hello Kind Peoples of the Virtual Tourist Forum, I begin my post grad teacher training in September 2011, meanwhile I'd like to...
A: Probably your best bet is to contact some expats living in Timbuktu right now. I have been there twice, but never looked at it from your perspective. Nothing like taking...
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Timbuktu, where the camel meets the canoe
For many people in the world Timbuktu has an air of mystery. Many people think about this legendary city in Mali more as a mythical place than as a city with a real history. Timbuktu is often used as...
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Saying Timbuktu often takes you to dreaming of distant lands, inaccesible towns, 1001 nights... Timbuktu is a legendary city for its position in the middle of Africa, being an ancient mercantile...
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Timbuktu is lost in the middle of the desert. In fact the nearly Sahara is sucking down the city and you can find sand everywhere (even in the food). This mythical and mysterious city disappoints...
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Timbuktu… « La Ville 7 fois sainte »… « la Cité aux toits d’or »… « La Ville aux 333 Saints »… Nowadays, the mythic city is only a pale shadow of its legend. Already in 1828 when he arrived there, the...
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I've been to Timbuktu, have you?
Wow! Timbuktu or Tombouctou. the fabled and mysterious city. The end of the road. The ultimate off the beaten path destination. Putting the "lonely" in Lonely planet. It is still hard for me to...
Build your own Timbuktu page
