We made it to Timbuktu and back again, and it really is a long way! After a short drive from Sevare to Mopti, we left Mopti in the pinasse at 3pm on Monday and cruised for 3 hours before stopping for the night. On Tuesday, we cruised all day from 7am until 7pm with a couple of short stops at riverside villages. On Wednesday, we started at 6.30am and continued until 9pm! Then we did the final half an hour to Timbuktu on the Thursday morning.
It was great to watch life happening on the edge of the River Niger. Though we also passed time by reading and snoozing. It was also quite cold out on the water, and we weren't really prepared for it.
After a morning exploring Timbuktu it was off to the Festival au Desert, which was a bone shaking 3 hours away. Though 70km driving through the sand dunes was a much bigger thrill than 10 minutes on the off road Land Rover circuit at Gaydon!
The Festival was interesting. We did a lot of "people watching" and it was great to observe Malien life. However, it took us a while to get into the groove of the music.
Our journey back to Sevare was all in one day in a 4x4 vehicle. We left the festival site about 8am and arrived at our guest house at midnight having covered over 400km, only 145km on a paved road.
We may have been totally tired and ready to collapse in bed, but after 6 nights without a bathroom we had to have showers before crashing!
We couldn't say that it was a totally enjoyable trip, but then getting to Timbuktu is supposed to be a challenge and an adventure.
