Sahara Passion Timbuktu

Day One - Traveled 40km to meet our pinasse (boat), which would be our means of travel to Timbukto. Stopped off at a local village to buy chickens for tonights meal. The river levels are low so the boat keeps getting stuck on sandbars. There was a brillant sunset whilst a few of us helped push the boat through a lake, with the water levels just above knee height, enjoyable experience ...

... so its couscous for lunch and dinn**, yuck. The campsite for the night is next to the riv**, close to a traditional village.<br><br>Day 2 on the riv** and its our first family group of hippos, v**y cool. I am one of the rare people on the trip who have not seen a hippo in the wild. Unfortunately we keep moving past them and th**e's no time to enjoy their company. Lunch and dinn** on the boat is equally yuck, by my standards, sorry but I hate fish ...

... basic tools. Mohamed Alhare takes Chris and I to see his workshop in town. He makes the exquisite leather boxes for Jump4Timbuktu , and we're bringing home a new sample of his work - a leather jewellery chest with perfectly fitting removable tray sitting snuggly inside. At the workshop he shows us a CD rack which he is making on commission for a customer. He's made the wood base by painstakingly cutting and carving the wood and now ...

... and she arranges to ring me back when she's done it, to give me the ref**ence numb**. Phew! What a relief! Chris phones half an hour lat**, and she's made the payment to West**n Union ov** the phone. The money will be in Timbuktu in 15 minutes! She gives me the ref**ence numb** and then a question which I must answ** before they will give me the money at the West**n Union Office. It must be something that I will know, but nobody else in Africa ...

... in our morning assemblies when Home End School was at Home End Farm! ) Plans were made for a week full of meetings and evenings of hospitality from our Timbuktu hosts. In the evening we sat on the roof of our hotel, looking up at the stars and drinking cold beer, listening to the sounds of the city : bleating goats and braying donkeys! And we all talked of the very special experience we'd shared and the hospitality we'd received in ...

... come galloping into the village. By the time I get the cam**a out and ask for p**mission to take pictures, they have dismounted, but proudly lead their camels ov** and pose for photos. The camels look so regal and smug with their headresses of metal and turquoise leath**. Their saddles are removed and they are hobbled with a rope attached to both front legs. They take mincing steps, like Japanese ladies in ...

... She has an impressive grasp of Bambara, the predominant language of Mali, and chats away to Mohamed AlHare about h** work. Nev** mind the wait- we are first on the f**ry when it makes the short crossing, and soon we are on the tarmac road, hurtling towards Sevare wh**e we stop for our Malian companions to pray and we all get breakfast.They stop at a petrol station to fill up the vehicles and we are immediately bombarded with people selling ...

... was flat (derrrrr! did he leave the lights on? couldn't he jump start it from one of the other planes? couldn't he call the RAC?) and that it would be a minimum of 4 hours before we were able to leave as we had to wait for a new plane to fly up from Bamako. Hmmmm.... ok. I went to sit outside as I was feeling cold, oh then hot, then cold, then hot, hang on.... could this be a fever? nah.... just a bit of something dogy I ate, nothing more surely ...

... filling it with green tea leaves and water and heating it up on a small stove of coals made of a couple of old tomato paste tins stuck together. Once its hot you take a few shot glasses, fill one completely with sugar and pour it into the teapot. Pour the tea - from a great height into each shot glass, then pour it back into the pot - also from a great height. Repeat several times over in a "which cup ...

Timbuktu! I never thought I would actually walk the streets of Timbuktu. The three day boat trip here was ....interesting. The city itself is not very interesting. Outside of the Mosque and some other local sites, there is not too much here to do. The city is an outpost before the desert travels for nomads and camel caravans begin. Some ...