5 January 2011
Timbuctou -Staying at Sahara Passion run by a Tuareg & his wife Miranda, a Canadian. Its right on the edge of the Sahara, and we were regaled with traditional stories in front of the fire last night and a lovely meal. a welcome change to rocking back & forth on a river! Pitch my tent on the roof of the encampement with fantastic views all round. I MADE IT TO TIMBUCTOU
6/7/8 January
Festival au Desert 2011
WOW what an experience. Perhaps I could make my future travelling thematic, with say music festivals as a focus? I could manage that. The festival is free for africans which tends to attract all sorts of beggars & opportunists. BUT the music is amazing, the Tuareg presence is so regal & I really have to pinch myself that I am really here. The harmattans are beginning which brings lots of sand & dust each morning so I go local & start wrapping a scarf around my head & face just to walk about in the day. There are many market stores set up & even a couple of restaurants where foreigners gather over a long coffee or a cheap meal.One evening I was chatting to a couple of Algerians. Another time a couple of Californians who had flown out just for the festival and were flying straight back home afterwards! And of course my fellow pinasse passengers are all firm friends gather together.
The souvenir sellers are out in force & by day 3 even the handicapped have made it out here to beg from a captive audience!
In the late afternoon there are wonderful cultural activies - camel racing, Tuareg music & dancing exhibitions. Robes, scarves, headresses everywhere. I have to keep pinching myself at the scenes that are 'everyday' here.
6/7/8 January
Festival au Desert 2011
WOW what an experience. Perhaps I could make my future travelling thematic, with say music festivals as a focus? I could manage that. The festival is free for africans which tends to attract all sorts of beggars & opportunists. BUT the music is amazing, the Tuareg presence is so regal & I really have to pinch myself that I am really here. The harmattans are beginning which brings lots of sand & dust each morning so I go local & start wrapping a scarf around my head & face just to walk about in the day. There are many market stores set up & even a couple of restaurants where foreigners gather over a long coffee or a cheap meal.One evening I was chatting to a couple of Algerians. Another time a couple of Californians who had flown out just for the festival and were flying straight back home afterwards! And of course my fellow pinasse passengers are all firm friends gather together. 
In the late afternoon there are wonderful cultural activies - camel racing, Tuareg music & dancing exhibitions. Robes, scarves, headresses everywhere. I have to keep pinching myself at the scenes that are 'everyday' here.
Sunday 9 January
I hitch a lift back from the festival site with an aussie family from the encampment, and leave my bag at their hotel. I have a few hours to kill so try looking for the internet cafe, thinking I should print out my flight confirmation. No luck there. I head back to Sahara Passion to retrieve my netbook, the one thing I now have that is sand free, and walk back to town to check out another famous Timbuktou mosque then some lunch. 1 hour after ordering cous cous & sauce, I give up and walk back to the hotel for my pack,and get a moto rode out to thye airport, 1 1/2 hrs before the flight - plenty of time right? Wrong - I get yelled at the moment I step foot into the airport - "where have you been" Why weren't you here earlier?" Didin't you hear the announcement at the festival concert?" We have given our seat away - now we will have to throw them off the flight!" Fly out back to Bamako, and Sleeping Camel hostel to shake out the sand from EVERYTHING. A 1 hour flight that took at least 4 whole days of traveling overland - WOW - worth every overpriced euro that it cost me!!
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