Taste Of Mali Tour

Day 1: Arrival – Bamako

Arrive today at any time. You are met at the airport and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure. Overnight in Bamako

Meals Included: None

Azalai Grand Hotel or similar

Day 2: Bamako

City tour of Bamako: Have an overview of Bamako from the hill Point G called again the hill of Health; visit the National Museum, providing an excellent introduction to the ethnic diversity of the country; visit the recycling market of Bamako where local artisan change old metal to other products; the city’s craft bazaar we shall see sculptors, weavers, leather workers, jewelers, and metal workers exhibiting their wares and displaying their skills.

One area of the market is devoted entirely to traditional African medicines. Here you'll find the freshly shrunken heads of birds, monkeys, and crocodiles, along with lizard skins and other gruesome treatments. Tour the handcraft center to shop for souvenirs.

After visits return to your hotel relax and overnight.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Azalai Grand Hotel or similar

NB: There are currently no regular domestic flights to/from Timbuktu. Before the tour is confirmed if flights are still not available, we will amend the program to an overland one and this requires two nights in Timbuktu.

Day 3: Bamako – Timbuktu (2 hour flight)

This morning take an early flight to legendary Timbuktu.

Located near the River Niger, and at the terminus of the great trans-Saharan caravan route, Timbuktu became fabulously wealthy in the 16th century. Loaded with blocks of salt and other trade goods, huge convoys of camels would spend weeks crossing the unforgiving Sahara to reach Timbuktu. It was here that they would trade salt, pound-for-pound, with African merchants bringing gold and ivory along the Niger from the heart of Africa.

Wander the dusty streets of Timbuktu, admiring such magnificent mud-brick structures as the Djinguiraiber Mosque, Sidi Yehia Mosque, and the Mosque of Sankoré which received many Muslim scholars. See the houses of the various 19th-century European explorers who used Timbuktu as a base.

We shall continue our tour of Timbuktu, including a visit to the ethnological museum, Al Manzour Korey Museum, Henrich Barth Museum, and Maison des Artisans. Overnight in Timbuktu.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Hotel La Colombe or similar

Day 4: Timbuktu – Mopti (45 minute flight)

This morning you leave a place whose name is synonymous with somewhere unreachable, "Timbuktu", and fly to Mopti.

Board a traditional motorized boat for approx seven hours cruise on the Niger River to Kona (55 Km). Visit on your way Kotaca a river bank village with a beautiful mosque and other villages, see fishermen exercising their job, etc, your lunch will be cooked (African cooking) and eaten in the boat. You arrive in Kona and drive back to Mopti.

Mopti city tour (you will see the fascinating mix of Malian cultures: Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Tuareg, Songhaï, and Hausa): visit the beautiful mosque, the fishing port, and the bustling market, where you can shop for gold or silver jewelry, Tuareg leatherwork, or Fulani blankets of cotton or wool.

Meals included: Breakfast and lunch

Hotel Kanaga or Similar

Day 5: Mopti – Djenné – Bandiagara (310 Km)

Breakfast and drive to Djenné, Timbuktu's ancient sister city on the Niger; visit Djenné on its weekly market day when Djenné is at its colorful best. Djenné Mali architectural jewel, founded in the fourth century has scarcely changed since the Middle Ages The atmosphere in the streets will transport you back to the medieval times.

See the magnificent Grand Mosque built in the 12th century, the largest mud-brick architecture in the world, and one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. Visit the archaeological site where the young virgin has been sacrificed for the prosperity of the city; visit the local Museum then end by visiting Djenné Djéno the Old City which is today an archaeological site. Dogon Country.

On your way visit Songho known for its Rock paintings and grotto where kids are circumcised in groups every 3 years. Learn the ritual of that initiation that opens the door to manhood. From the top of the cliff enjoy a wonderful view of that Dogon village. After visits drive to overnight in Bandiagara

Meals Included: Breakfast

Hotel La Falaise or Similar

Day 6: Dogon Country – Mopti ( ~ 155 km )

This morning, travel to Sangha and start the visit to the fascinating Dogon Country. With its fascinating rocky, Sahelian landscape, the Dogon Country is considered to be one of the most extraordinary places on earth.

The Dogon are a group of people living in the central plateau region of the country, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The Dogon are best known for their mythology, their mask dances, wooden sculpture, and their architecture.

The principal Dogon area is bisected by the Bandiagara Escarpment, a sandstone cliff of up to 500m (1,640 ft) high, stretching for about 150 km (almost 100 miles). Dogon life is centered on sacred rights and rituals that take place in the hollow cliffs of the escarpment on which the Dogon houses are built. Dogon culture is surrounded by mysticism and intrigue, from an astonishing

knowledge of the solar system to the unique structure of Dogon villages. Visit Sangha, on the top of the Bandiagara escarpment. Visit the villages of Sangha, Ogols, and Bongo; see the traditional women's house and the sacrificial altar of the Hogon (the Dogon people's traditional and spiritual leader). Enter a compound and have a view over Sangha.

Visit a Dogon seer. Descend (some trekking) the Bandiagara escarpment to visit the villages of Banani (note the ancient Tellem cave dwellings in the cliff face), Ireli, Amani (visit the sacred crocodile sanctuary), and Tireli where you will witness a Dogon mask dance; climb up the cliff then continue to Mopti for overnight.

Meals included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Hotel Kanaga or similar

Day 7: Mopti – Ségou – Bamako (640 km ~ 7 - 8 hours )

Following breakfast, leave Mopti for Ségou, on our way visit San to see the local mosque, designed as a replica of the Djenné Grand Mosque. Arrive in Ségou see and experience how to make a traditional mud cloth. Admire the beautiful Sudanese-style colonial architecture.

Visit Sékoro village ‘the Old Ségou’, the former capital of the Bambara kingdom where you will see the tomb of King Biton Coulibaly and other ancient mosques. Continue to Bamako where you will be transferred to the airport for your next destination flight in time in the evening. End of your Mali Discover tour!

Meals Included: Breakfast

Price Above Includes: (Price is based on at least 2 people, double occupancy)

Meeting and assistance upon arrival and departure, Round trip airport to hotel transfers, Assistance with airport departure formalities, Flight BKO/TOM/MZI, Accommodation in the properties listed or similar, Transportation in private A/C Land Cruiser Toyota, or Microbus, Trained English-speaking tour guide, Admissions to all listed sites, Luggage transfer, Meals indicated by B, L, D, tour as outlined including all the museum's fees, Dogon Mask dance and cruise to Kona.

Tour Price Does Not Include:

International flight to/out of Mali, travel insurance, visa fees, gratuities, Tuareg Dance in Timbuktu, personal items such as souvenir shopping, etc.