Day 1: Bamako
Morning arrival at Bamako International Airport. Transfer to Hotel Tamana.
Day 2: Bamako - Djenné
Departure for Djenne, about 8 hours by car. We will stop for lunch in San and stop in various other villages on the way.
Check into Hotel Le Campement.
We will visit the city of Djenne: the Komboro Mosque, the largest adobe mud mosque in the world, built by King Komboro at the end of the XIIIth century and rebuild in 1905; the tomb of Tapama Djenepo, a girl sacrificed for the prosperity of the city; the colorful Great Market; Koranic schools where children write the Koran on wooden tablets; the archeological site of Djenne Djeno and the Cultural Museum.
Afterwards , we will depart towards Mopti (2 hours by car). Accommodation at Hotel Y a pas de probleme.
City located at the confluence of the Niger and Bani Rivers, Mopti contains a busy and animated river port crowded with boats arriving and leaving, carrying all kinds of products. Here we will visit workshops where the river boats called "pinasses" (long wooden boat driven by outboard engine) are built and repaired.
We will also visit the craft market, the old city (Komoguel), where the Sougouni Market and Great Mosque dating from 1935 are located.
Day 4: Mopti - Niger River
On the way we will see interesting landscapes, beautiful sunsets, a variety of birds and take advantage of the cooling breezes.
The pinasse has a roof providing protection from the sun as well as serving as a place from which to better appreciate the passing scenery. It is also equipped with a small kitchen and toilet facilities.
The pinasse will remain docked for the evening, permitting us to sleep in tents and take advantage of the quiet surroundings and starry skies.
Day 5: Niger River
We will occasionally stop at villages along the Niger.
Day 6: Niger River - Timbuktu
Arriving to Tombuctu in the afternoon. Spending the night at Hotel La Colombe.
Day 7: Timbuktu
We will visit Timbuktu, legendary and mythical city, known the world over for its splendid past and for many years accessible only to Moslems.
This city, located at the edge of the Sahara Desert and designated as a UNESCO protected site, has long been a market place for merchants dealing in salt and gold.
Places to visit include: The Djingareiber Mosque, Ahmed Baba Cultural Centre, the houses of early explorers, the city wall, the Tuareg Museum and craft market, the Sankore Mosque, the first Islamic university and the Sidi Yahia Mosque.
We will have lunch at the hotel and then take a camel ride to a Touareg encampment.
Spend the night in the hotel or camp in the desert.
Day 8: Timbuktu - Dogon Country
We go to the Dogon Region by car stopping in Douentza for lunch.
We will explore the spectacular countryside of the Bandiagara escarpement. We will visit the Dogon villages inhabited since the XIVth century where this unique culture has been preserved thanks to the oral traditions of their people and little outside influence.
We will see Dogon houses whose wooden doors and windows contain symbolic sculptures. Their multiple rooms are arranged around a central courtyard where daily tasks take place. Men and women keep their wealth in separate granaries, mud buildings having thatched conical roofs.
Other typical village buildings include: the "house for speech or debate" (the toguna) built with a low ceiling so that calm discussions are encouraged, place where the elders meet to make decisions affecting the village; the "house for menstruating women", where women live during their menstrual period; the "house of the Tellems", houses of the former inhabitants, constructed on the face of the cliff and used today as burial sites and the house of the hogon, the tribal chief in charge of transmitting his knowledge to his successor.
We visit the villages of Bamba, Yenda and finally Yendouma, where we will camp for the night.
Day 9: Dogon Country
Here we find many African baobab trees. They provide fruit which is rich in vitamin C, bark that is used to make rope and leaves that are boiled for food.
Day 10: Bandiagara – Ouagadougou
In the mornig we depart towards the capital city of Burkina Faso. We stop at Ouahigouya for lunch, will be arriving at Ouagadougou in the evening.
Spending the night at Hotel Yini.
Day 11: Ouagadougou – Gaoua
Places of particular interest that we will visit in Ouagadougou are: the National Museum, the National Museum, the Palace of Moro-Naba, and the Great Market.
We will be visiting the Lobi Country, populated by a number of ethnic groups, of which the majority are the Lobi people who live in this region since the thirteenth century. Of particular interest are the sukalas, the housing of the Lobi, whose distribution tell us much about this fascinating people, profoundly animists and great defenders of their traditions and independence.
Night at Hotel Hala.
Night accommodation at Hotel La Canne à Sucre.
Day 13: Banfora – Bobo Dioulasso
Will be visiting Bobo-Dioulasso Great Mosque, the Great Market and its neighborhood of crafts artists:
Kibidwe.
Night accomodation at Hotel L’Auberge.
Day 14: Bobo Dioulasso – Ségou
We leave Burkina to return to Mali, visiting Ségou on the way (the whole journey takes about five hours by car).
We can visit the "bogolan"(cotton fabrics dyed with organic pigments over designs outlined in mud of various colors) and bambara pottery workshops.
Day 15: Ségou - Bamako
Return to Bamako.
We will visit the capital of Mali: the National Museum, the Great Market, the market of the artisans, the traditional medicine and fetish market, the Medina market where agricultural tools are made, the Great Mosque and the Cathedral.
This trip includes:
-Eleven nights of hotel lodging, including room use prior to departure flight, and three nights of camping.
-Breakfast each day. In the Dogon Country, lunch and dinner are also included (drinks are excluded with the exception of bottled water).
-Travel by all terrain vehicle with air-conditioned system, including driver and gas.
-Experienced guide for all visits.
-Private pinasse.
-Airport to hotel and hotel to airport transfers.
-Hotel and local visitor taxes.
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