Desert Hotel Timbuktu

... beside the river or on top of the boat. Day Two - Lazy day. Nothing much of note happended during the day, except stopping at Niafunke for everyone to buy drinks. Niafunke is the hometown of Ali Fakrah Toure, a famous Mali musician, and I think we even went to his hotel for the drinks. Day Three - Long lazy day on the river, this last part of the trip eventually took 13hrs to ...

... bland rice, pasta or couscous with no flavour or anything else added. A highlight of the day is a visit to the riv**side town of Niafunke, the home of legendary Mali blues musician, Ali Farka Toure. We all had a be** in his hotel / restaurant. Most of us went for a swim today, didn't see any hippos or crocodiles nearby, like swimming in a sew**age pond.<br>The high temp**atures made it worthwhile.<br><br>Day 3 and we should be reaching Timbuktu by ...

... s going to cover it in leather. Chris, a wood turner and furniture maker himself, is amazed that Mohamed Alhare has done all this work by hand, without all the tools taken for granted at home. We go and visit Mohamed AgAtta and his family, also living in the same area on the edge of town and desert. In through the door of the front yard, and here we are again in a Tuareg village, with two Tuareg tents outside the house. This is the ...

... know the answ**. ' What's the name of our dog?' Chris says ' And you mustn't say anything in case anyone is listening to our conv**sation.' 'MY dog?' I ask. 'No, OUR dog!' Chris replies. My mind goes totally blank. I can see their dog in my mind, but I can't for the life of me rememb** h** name. This is like Rumplestiltskin! 'Give me the first lett**', I say 'A' 'Oh, ABBY!!!' I shout out with relief. Chris is exasp**ated on the oth** end of the ...

... desert village of Mohamed AlHare, and how wonderful it had been to sleep in an open-sided tent under the clear starry sky. But what a pleasure to curl up on a proper sandless matress ........... until woken by the mullah's evocative call to prayer from the mosque across the street at 5am. I lay in bed thinking about the week ahead, and feeling that I really was at the end of the earth and a world away from Cradley. From the window in my ...

... ov** to the fodd** on the ground. I watch some women winnowing the rice to remove chaff and sand. They have tiny babies fast asleep on their backs, with little feet sticking out on eith** side of their moth**'s waist - and no nappy of any kind - how do they manage that with no wet stains and worse - surely they aren't already toilet trained. While I've been watching this, I've luckily missed the slaught**ing of ...

... conical hats, jewell**y, knives and those little recycled tin toys again. Non m**ci! Once more we are on the road and the sandy land , pepp**ed with scrubby trees and bushes races past. The windows are open and the hot des**t wind carries fine grains of sand with it. Sunglasses are a necessary protection, and the veil of AlHare's tagelmust is pulled ov** his nose and mouth- only those mischievious eyes visible. Among the Tuareg it is the men who hide ...

... We waited and waited and waited.... there were some South African musicians that kept us entertained with their singing and dancing (both the South African and Malian Presidents had been in town the day before to open a new building for the study of manuscripts). Then....I threw up.... oh dear what was wrong with me? must've been something I ate right? Finally the pilot announced we were ready to head off, so Mohamed said farewell while the wind made his ...

... the ball under" magician fashion. Finally pour a tiny amount into a cup and taste it. If its all good, serve to your guests. After several cups of tea we (well, I ) rode off into the sunset on my camel while my guide and the desert guide walked - I felt like a prize turkey being the only one on a camel but hey ho! When we got into the desert we had a very traditional meal of.... mmmm.... welll...... spaghetti.

... are 60 days by camel to get to the interior of the desert and the salt flats. We met several kids who were on break from school and were heading off on the 60 day caravan within the week. I am glad I came, but the city itself does not offer much. We will take 4 wheel drive vehicles back to Sevare after a short ferry ride out of Timbuktu.