| Day 1 - The first day is introduction day. You visit Bamako, accompanied by a Malian woman. The aim is to adjust slowly to a different world, a different way of living, a different rhythm. And who can introduce you better to the daily life in Africa than an African woman?
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| Day 2 - Visit to Segou, the old capital of the Bambara kingdom. After the visit of the city and the potters market you travel on a canoe to the fishers’ village on the other bank of the river Niger.
In the evening you eat in Segoukoro, the old village of Segou and stay the night with a family in the village. |
| Day 3 - Departure to San and Djenne, the city that is named a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its phenomenal mud mosque and its typical atmosphere.
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| Day 4 - If you arrive on a Monday you have the opportunity to see the colourful market.
Visit to the Fulani and Bozo villages in the area of Djenne, where you can see a traditional smith of the Fulani.
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| Day 5 - Departure for Mopti and Bandiagara, direction Dogonland.
Visit to Djiguibombo, a beautiful village on the plateau where you see the first ‘tounga’, the ‘discussion hut’, and the house of the traditional medicine. The car brings you to the beginning of the valley, to the village Kani Kombole, with its beautiful contemporary mosque, called ‘the small mosque of Djenne’
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| Day 6 - During two days you will be walking through different Dogon villages. You walk from Kani Kombole to Teli, a beautiful village built on the slope of a rock, then Ende, the largest Dogon village in the area and Yabatalou, where you stay the night.
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| Day 7 - Visit to Yabatalou, built on a rocky mountaintop, and to Begnematou that lies on a plateau. Begnematou, a village where three religions (Islam, Christianity and animism) live together in peace, offers a beautiful view and some authentic scenes of village life.
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| Day 8 - The car leaves in the morning from Begnematou to Mopti, the Venice of Mali. We have programmed a visit to the harbour of Mopti with a canoe to the place where the rivers Bani and Niger meet and a visit to several villages of the Fulani, the Touareg and the Bozo.
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| Day 9 - A three day trip with public ‘pinasse’ on the river Niger to Timbuktu. You eat and sleep on the ‘pinasse’.
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| Day 10 - A ‘pinasse’ is riverboat in the shape of a large canoe, about 25 meters long and 4 meters wide. It is an authentic form of transport that allows you to spend several days among the Malians while you can enjoy the wonderful landscape and fishing scenes, watch the wide variety of birds and with a bit of luck observe hippopotami. The boat is very basic.
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| Day 11 - The evening of day 11 you arrive in Timbuktu.
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| Day 12 - Visit to Timbuktu, the gate to the desert: you can go on a trip on the back of a dromedary for a few hours, visit mosques or a Touareg camp…
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| Day 13 - Drive in a 4 wheel drive from Timbuktu to Douentza. You visit the city, the market (every Sunday), Fatima’s hand, the most beautiful mountain top in the area…
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| Day 14 - Day trip to Hombori that is situated in a typical landscape. On the way there you have the opportunity to see elephants in the Gourma reservate (between Douentza and Gao) from October till July. By May and June these elephants reach Douentza before they return to Burkina Faso.
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| Day 15 - Departure to Borko, a beautiful and special Dogon village where the villagers live with about fifty caiman that live in two lakes in the middle of the village.
You continue your trip to Somadougou, near Sevare, where you stay with a family.
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| Day 16 - Departure to Sikasso via Koutiala
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| Day 17 - Visit the interesting sights in Sikasso and surroundings: Mamelon, an example of military architecture built by king Thieba; Tata, a remarkable example of a large West African fort; the market full of craft and agriculture products; the caves of Missirikoro, 12 km Southwest of Sikasso, an animist cult place.
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| Day 18 - Visit to Bougouni and return to Bamako where you stay the night.
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| Day 19 - In the morning you visit the market in Senou, close to Bamako, where you will have lunch with a local family. After lunch you travel further to the land of the Mandingue, the country of origin of the Dogon. Visit to Bankoumana, a traditional village in a typical landscape, where you stay the night with a family in the village.
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| Day 20 - In Sibi we have programmed the following: visit to the city, the rock and the waterfall. You stay the night in Sibi.
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| Day 21 - Return to Bamako, to Tounga Tours.
You can plan your afternoon like you want: take some free time or choose to do other things the travel agency offers like Senou, sunset on the Niger, museums or day of rest…
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