5:30 we were up to help the crew take down the tents. They are very serious about getting up early. I look forward to “sleeping in” past 6:00. But in this case 6:00 we were in the boat and off on the final leg to Timbuktu.

Breakfast on the boat was flat bread (a change from the now rather stale bread we had been eating over the past few days) which is supposed to be quite common to this area.

We stopped a bit later to pick up our lunch from some fisherman on the shore who were using large nets to haul in their catch close to the shore. They showed us their wares in the bottom of their boat as our chef made her selection.

11:30 we could see a sandstorm approaching so the pilot headed to the shore. Once there myself and a few of the other passengers climbed up the beach onto the high bank to see the storm as it came towards us – resulting in our quickly returning to the boat.

12:00 lunch was served which was fish with couscous (which is Chris' favourite food - well, not really, he really enjoys rice but I like couscous so there is always a bit of a joke about what we are going to be eating, my favourite or his) and a tomato/onion sauce.

The shores are pretty much all sand now with dunes right up to the water. There are a few small villages and we even passed what looked like a nomad villages with what were obviously temporary buildings more like tents.

Chris filtered some of the water from the river. It was surprising to see how much stuff was filtered from the water. We all tasted the filtered water which tasted just fine.

It was quite cloudy and eventually started to rain with the atmosphere quickly cooling quite dramatically. The sides of the boat were down as we waited for the rain to clear and the boat rocked to and fro with the waves on the river. This time the floor of the boat was warmer than the surrounding air.

We were all anxious to finally arrive having rested quite well on the boat doing a lot of nothing for two days now we just wanted to be there. Asking what time we would arrive we understood the answer to be “5 o'clock” though 15 minutes later we were pulling into the river terminal where you catch transport into Timbuktu – at 3:00 in the afternoon. We were all surprised at this sudden arrival and scrambled to pack up our belongings. We had earlier collected a small amount of money to leave as a bit of a tip for the crew that I handed over as soon as we had been unloaded on the shore.

The terminal is on the river at a place called Korioumé that is about 20 km south of the city and is joined to it by a fast pave road. It is also where you catch a ferry to the opposite shore heading out of Timbuktu when you are returning to the main road across Mali (where we just came from) by 4×4. Immediately after we arrived we were accosted by people seeing if we wanted transport into the city. They attempted to ask for 2,500 CFA but we eventually got on a public bâchée for 1,500 CFA to the city.

The road is quite a good one as we headed into the city. We passed by the road to Diré which is to the south east of Timbuktu on the river that looked a bit worse for wear with the tarmac of our road stopping very shortly after the turn off. We also passed the road to the airport which looked (not surprisingly) quite deserted. The bâchée was belching smoke at Anne who was sitting at the far end of the bâchée. I could see where we were going as I was sitting directly behind the cab and was peaking my head out the front – A bit windy but worth it for the view. The driver, causing me a bit of concern, would occasionally poke his head out to look at a piece of the body looking about to fall off. The landscape there is pretty barren with a few shrubs here and there with sand everywhere else. Approaching the city we noticed a large number of signs advertising various things though mostly hotels. Eventually we passed under the arch welcoming us to Timbuktu.

We had made it.

A terribly difficult place to get to even in this day and age. Even the plane is difficult to catch as there is only one a week leaving from Mopti (so how do you get to Mopti?) and the road itself is only possible by 4×4 while the boat, as we have seen, takes the best part of two days to get here. Still inaccessible. There are “towns” to the north – we are told there is one village a few hundred kilometres to the north that is abandoned but there is another a few hundred kilometres more that is inhabited. A bit remote, yes.

I was immediately struck with how wide the streets are, how sand is everywhere making the place seem quite light and airy, how the few buildings are spaced quite generously apart and at how few people were around.

Passing through Place de l'Independance eventually the bâchée dropped us off in the middle of the city near to the market. From there, of course, we had offers of assistance to show us to our hotel. There was a boy that had met us at the ferry, a friend of Alex, evidently Alex spreads his hands quite wide, who we got to take us to one of the hotels we had learned from our research that was supposed to be quite good: Sahara Passion. Looking only a short distance from where we were (looking at the map) we headed out. It was quite hot out and we were anxious just to put our bags down and have a shower.

The walk took us throughout the city that was, as I have already described, quite quiet with very wide streets. We passed through what was obviously one of the residential areas of the city and eventually arrived at the hotel that turned out to be within a stone's throw of the northern edge of the city and the open desert. It was also, we could see, right beside the Flamme de la Paix monument which commemorates the burning of Tuareg (the people of the desert) and the government weapons ending a rebellion in 1996. It is a strikingly tall monument that can be seen from quite some distance away and also makes a good marker for us to find our way back to the hotel.

The hotel itself is marked only with a small circular sign about a foot across that you might miss if you were not really looking for it. Entering the single door into the compound there are buildings where the owner lives to the left and right with the main hotel building ahead of you. In the compound itself are a number of trees, a washing line and compressed dirt/sand for a floor. The owner met us with a welcoming smile while I requested a place on the roof which I was sure would be cool at night (along with Chris and Sue), us being in the desert, while Anne took a room inside with a fan and Diana and Ebrima took another room. Judging from the temperature in the hallways it will be far more comfortable on the roof even after the sun has gone down. The roof was going to be 5,000 CFA a night while the rooms were 10,000 CFA (for two people, 12,000 CFA).

We collapsed for a few minutes at a table set up on the terrace outside the main entrance and requested some drinks that the owner hurried out to procure. The cold soft drink was very nice after not having had any cold drinks during our two, quite hot, days on the boat while others enjoyed a cold beer. Refreshing.

I was able to leave my bags in Anne's room (and, because there was electricity, I was able to later charge my camera) when we headed out for a bit of a walk. It was not terribly hot as there were a fair number of clouds but it was still quite warm. We wandered around the rather abandoned monument on our way out into the desert. I spotted Sue and Chris in the distance so trotted out to see them as the others headed back into the city. We were able to do a bit of a “photo shoot” that we had been talking about: my sitting on a dune looking out into the desert, pictures of footprints leading to them in the distance, etc. We were helped by a local Tuareg who introduced himself and offered to take our pictures (though he seemed to take all pictures at about a 45-degree angle – it was the thought that counted). He had a camel standing a few metres away with a short rope tied around both of the front legs keeping, I assume, the camel from walking away. Obviously our friend wanted us to take a camel trip and, we learned as we walked back into the city, to sell us some Tuareg jewellery and boxes made of camel leather (very nice).

There is a small restaurant almost right opposite our hotel that the guidebook suggests is a good reason for staying in this hotel. We stopped here for a very refreshing cold drink and dinner. I had steak brochette with chips which was quite good (2,500 CFA).

The owner was helpful and had brought up our mattresses to the roof along with mosquito nets. Of course, being prepared, we had sheets that we had brought with us to put on top of the simple foam mattresses. After the sun had set it had grown remarkably cooler but the view from the roof is still quite incredible with the monument and desert beyond in one direction and the rest of the city in all other directions. It is a lot like the view we had on top of the hotel in Djenné but the buildings are not so closely together and the city seems to be spread out much more here.

It should be a very good sleep tonight though that full moon…

⇒ Continue to Part 4 - Timbuctu and Hombori

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In Timbuctu, Steve stayed at:

• Hôtel Sahara Passion, B.P. 44 Gao - Telephone: (+223) 820 187 - Electronic Mail: spassion@bluewin.ch