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| Viewing: MALI - Festival in the Desert 2010 |
Package ID: 1708 |
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| MALI - Festival in the Desert 2010 |
Festival in the Desert 2010, Dogon country, Djenne, Timbuctu, and the Niger River.
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Although the centerpoint of this trip is the Festival in the Desert in Essakane, the itinerary also includes more well-known Mali attractions such as Dogon country, Djenne, and Timbuctu. Billed as the "most remote music festival in the world" the Festival is a three-day Afro-pop powwow held by the Tuareg, the traditionally nomadic "blue people" of the Sahara. It's a tribe often feared for the banditry of its rebels and respected for the fact that it has never really been conquered. Combining traditional Tuareg music and dance, camel races, and competitions during the day, the Festival comes alive at night with modern Malian music, which is becoming popular the world over from incorporation into music as diverse as that of Robert Plant and Paul Simon. This is truly a one-of-a-kind experience!
Day 1, Jan. 5 BAMAKO
Arrival at Bamako and transfer to hotel.
Dinner on your own and overnight.
Hotel Tamana (B)
Day 2, Jan. 6 BAMAKO-MOPTI
Transfer to Mopti.
Stop in Segou and visits (visits will be spread in d.2 and d.14)
Dinner and O/N at Hotel Y a pas de Problèmes (B, D)
Founded in 1852, Segou, keeper of one of the most ancient histories of West Africa, capital of the ancient Bambara kingdom, has an undeniable charm which is well worth discovering. Ancient kingdom of culture and tradition, Segou has inspired numerous writers and historians. Among the most famous is Maryse Condé.
Segou is also the site where Mungo Park, the first European in modern times, gazed upon the Niger River. When he arrived he ‘fell to his knees, thanked God, and drank from the muddy water.’ (Mark Jenkins, To Timbuktu) .
Day 3, Jan. 7 MOPTI-TIMBUCTU
Transfer to Timbutku through Gourma Region.
Hotel Azalai or sim. (B, L, D)
The Gourma region spreads out between Douentza and Timbuktu, a region known for its desert steppes. Thanks to its micro-climate, protected by the Niger River which frames it for the 2 / 3 part, the region is a land of savannas mixed with dunes.
In the Gourma region we could meet a lot of Fulani, Tuareg and Bella (ancient slaves) camps).
When we reach the Gandamia Mountains, we will visit a tiny village hidden in the mountains.
Day 4-6, Jan. 8-10 TIMBUCTU-ESSAKANE
Day 4 - visit Timbuktu and transfer to Essakane for the Festival
Days 5-6 - free days to attend the festival
full board
O/N bush camp in tents (B, L, D)
It is far away to time when travellers were martyrized on the way to Timbuktu:
« To begin from the top: I have five saber cuts on the crown of the head and three on the left temple, all fractures from which much bone has come away, one on my left cheek which fractured the jaw bone and has divided the ear… » (Major Gordon Laing).
Nevertheless, Timbuktu is still a myth.
A myth can be disappointing.
In the XIX cent: « I looked around and found that the sight before me did not answer my expectations. I had formed a totally different idea of the grandeur and wealth of Timbuktu… » (René Caillié)
In the XX cent: "For some people, when you say 'Timbuktu, it is like the end of the world, but that is not true. I am from Timbuktu, and I can tell you we are right at the heart of the world." ( Ali Farka Toure)
Better to undress all the expectations and to walk in the sandy streets… Djingereber Mosque, built in the 14th century, the oldest clay building in Africa, … houses in clay and gray stones arriving from the area surrounding the city… small markets with few dry vegetables, some slabs of salt, a lot of leather crafts.
At sunset the sky is still « pale red as far as the horizon » like at the Caillié’s time and the town regains the vivacity that it has never lost. Rich merchants, elegant women, smiling kids walk in the street and socialize. Timbuktu is still today the major “caravan terminal“ of all the Sahara, beyond any postcard cliché.
There are several Timbuktu, says B.Chatwin: the one in the reality and the one in our dreams.
The visit of the town is difficult because visitors would like to be confirmed in the dreams which they have about the town, instead of taking and appreciating what they meet.
It is true that the town can be disappointing: Mud and dust every where; kids running after the tourists and begging attention and money. And the local tour guides are “masterized” on tourist tour of the town. They show always the same things to every body.
So, as result of that, there is an other partition of the reality in Timbuktu: the own which is shown to the tourists and the one, real, where local people live, work, enjoy the life.
Day 7-8, Jan. 11-12 CRUISE ON NIGER RIVER
Transfer by 4x4 from Essakane to Nianfounke and cruise on pinasse (covered dugout pirogue) from Nianfounke to Konna
1 O/N on bush camp
1 O/N Hotel at Mopti, Y a pas de problèmes
Full board
Two days of navigation on the River on a big covered pinasse, (local large pirogue) through the most interesting part of the internal delta of the Niger. In this region at the edge between savannah and desert the immense water basin is divided into hundreds of branches, lakes and ponds: a vast “spider web”. Villages are inhabited by Fulani, Bozo and Songhai, some reachable only by pirogue. Beautiful adobe architecture strikes the eyes: the mosques with a “personalized” style to each of the ethnic groups… the homes built along the water courses… the tiny fishermen shelters on small islands… the rangy canoes with a unique shape.
At the halfway point the river turns into the huge Lake Debo: a paradise for fishermen and shepherds. The shallow water hosts enough fish to feed the region. And when the level goes down, green grass feed uncountable herds of local zebu cattle .
We say water and mean also birds, some of them coming from Europe to escape the winter. At sunset millions of weavers fly in flocks, composing strange figures, seeming to “dance” in the sky.
Lunch on board.
Dinner and O/N bush camp in tents
Day 9, Jan. 13 MOPTI-DOGON CLIFF
Mopti city tour
Transfer to the Bandiagara cliff
Dinner and O/N in tents at Campement (B, L, D)
The town of Mopti is built on three islands where the Bani and Niger rivers converge. The town is alive with the different cultures in the region: Bozo fishermen, Dogon, Bambara and Bella farmers, Tuareg and Peul herders. The market and the harbor are saturated with all colors and smells.
Part of the harbor is occupied by a traditional workshop where artisans build the “pinasse”, starting with the production of nails and finishing with colorful paintings on the sides of the boats.
As trade point Mopti is important also for art objects from the region, including a great variety of beads and jewellery.
Dinner and O/N at hotel
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Day 10, Jan. 14 DOGON CLIFF
Trekking and Dogon dancing masks
Dinner and O/N in tents at Campement (B, L, D)
A path across stones and some millets (« a path… ? ») reaches a hidden village. A dozen people live in an open cave… some adobe dwellings… a spring in the middle… fresh water nourishing generations of lucky families…. Beside the spring the house of Hogon (the high priest) displaying fetishes and trophies. Two items reunited in one single activity: hunting, privilege of a special cast, and challenge to wild forces of the nature, needing spiritual protection.
The voice of people resonates in the cave, and from there to the rest of the valley. The soft light of sunset design long shades in the fields. Time to set up the camp; soon stars will light the sky; Sirius starts pulsing. The knowledge of the Dogon concerning Sirius has preceded modern astronomy. Sirius A, Sirius B, Sirius C are part of local myths, basement of a 60 years calendar.
Now, the silence of the night shortens the distances… the visitors feel to be closer to this amazing world…. Also Sirius seems to be closer.
In the afternoon dancing masks.
Dogon masks have deep eyes, framed by vertical and parallel lines. A kind of rectangular box looking at you from another world. Pure cubist art, with on top of all, the soul of a population living in communion with the spirits of their ancestors, nature, stars. They dance al together in a circle, accompanied by drums. Afterwards, group-by-group, they run in the ring and start dancing every one with his peculiar movements.
Just men stand in front of the masks. Women stay away, on the clay roofs of surrounding houses. Even if a taboo for them, they do not want to miss the performance. Masks are related with death and funerals; women are related with birth and life. They have opposite and complementary roles. Better to avoid any unfortunate clash.
Day 11, Jan. 15 DOGON FLAT LAND
Last trekking of Dogon cliff and exploration of Dogon villages on flat land
Dinner and O/N in tents at Campement (B, L, D)
A brief excursion on foot will lead us in a tiny village hidden in a huge cave in the escarpment, and not even indicated on the maps. We will meet the Ogon, the great priest. The Ogon’s house, half home and half cave, is an important shrine for the hunters’ cult: from the wall stick out animal skulls, ritual objects and wooden statues that carry recent traces of sacrifice… A water spring in a crack of the rock allows the complete autonomy of this magic village, protected from all external looks.
The landscape is characterized more and more by huge millet fields. They provide food for large villages communities. They are inhabited by Dogon, on a flat land dominated, far away, by the famous Bandiagara escarpment. This flat land has been populated for the last century. Dogon, looking for land, moved from the cliff back to the low land. The links to their original villages: giant granaries with an anthropomorphic façade, looking at the visitors (they seem to say: « Be careful… we saw you coming… ”); Togu’na (men shelters) with carved pillars representing the ancestors figures are settled in middle of the village, silent witness of a long history and rare example of tribal art still in its natural frame; old bearded figures walking in the dusty paths or sitting in the Togu’na. Generous enthusiasm accompanies every new visitor.
Day 12, Jan. 16 DOGON CLIFF/BANDIAGARA (80 kms of dirt road)
exploration of Dogon plateau
Htl La Falaise or sim. (B, L, D)
On the “plateau” the main color is the gray of the stones, broken by the green of the onions fields, along the ponds and rivers. Dogon are tough farmers: during the raining season the farm millet, and during the dry season it is the turn of the onions.
The visit of the cave beautifully painted with design made of the classical cosmogonic colours of African people (white, red and black) will allow us to receive a esaurient explanation about the initiation rites that every 3 years take place in this natural amphitheatre.
We will visit also the hidden locations of a fortified village, perfectly camouflaged in the rocky countryside, one of the more astonishing examples of African architecture.
Day 13, Jan. 17 BANDIAGARA-DJENNE
Djenne city tour
Hotel Campement or Maafir or sim. (B, D)
Djenne, the most beautiful and genuine example of Sudanese adobe architecture. The story houses of rich traders families, the Koranic schools, the mosque -that is also the biggest building out of clay in the world- make together a unique inhabited center in the world.
Some details deserve special attention: the technique used to built the roofs, the setting of the rooms in the houses, the Morocco style windows, the Toucoulors gates, the rounded and the square bricks dating the time before and after the beginning of the .... colonization.
In Djenne we understand that a mason can be an artist. These artists, here in Djenne, are called “barrey”. They work just with hands. No tools. Like sculptors. The oldest among them replace the work of the hands with the pronunciation of magic spell, able to support the house, even in case of danger. To build a house like an artist, to protect it like a priest. Here is a “barrey”. No way to understand Djenne without crossing the path of one of them.
We will reach Djenne the market day… everybody will dress up with its best ethnic costumes. A colourful crowd will invade the town arriving by horse, by carriage, by pirogue, by camel, in roaring bush taxi…
Day 14, Jan. 18 DJENNE-SEGOU
Stops on the way to visit Bobo and Bambara villages.
Segou, end of city tour (see day 2)
Hotel Indépendance or sim (B, D)
Day 15, Jan. 19 SEGOU-BAMAKO out
Breakfast and departure to Bamako
City tour
ONE day use room for last shower
Transfer to airport and end of services (B)
Bamako, the capital.
The administrative buildings have the marks of beautiful Neo-Sudanese style.
The museum is the best ethnographic museum in West Africa. Its great collection displaying the beauty of African shapes contains ancient art objects of astonishing beauty. We will admire masks, ritual sculptures, archeological terracotta’s, textiles, musical instruments, tools, and traditional weapons…
Price per person in
dbl - US $3000
Guides:
English speaking guide with deep knowledge of people and places.
Local guides as mentioned in the program, in Djenné, Dogon cliff, Douentza and Timbuktu and Essakane.
We use 4x4 with a max of 4 clients per car. <
Meals:
Meals as stated in the program. French and international cuisine sometimes mixed with local dishes in the restaurants and hotels. In the desert the meals will be provided by our own professional cook.
Accommodation:
As per the program or in similar in case of no vacancies during the bookings. Igloo tents in every camp. Tents and mattresses will be provided by the agency The price includes all the visits as stated in the program
The price doesn't include
other different flights and apt tax, travel insurance, visa, drinks, tips and services or visits not mentioned in the program.
Note
Mali single entry visa is required
Yellow fever vaccination is required
Malaria prophylaxis is strongly recommended
The weather will be dry and hot during the day and cool in the night, in particular in the desert. We suggest bringing a warm sleeping bag and some warm clothes for your stay in the desert. Don't forget a flashlight, hat, sunscreen, comfortable clothes and walking shoes and a water bottle
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