Maliba Tours - Festival on the Niger

Festival on the Niger

10 Days

Fulani band performing traditional songs at Festival on Niger

Day 1: Bamako Arrival

International flight arrives in Bamako, Mali. Assistance from guide/driver for airport formalities and transfer to hotel. Spend a leisurely evening at your hotel.

Day 2: Bamako

Tour Bamako situated on the banks of the Niger River, one of Africa’s great rivers. Mali is a country of many ethnic groups, each with their own exuberant styles of clothing, jewelry, and distinct way of life and there is nowhere better to see this colorful diversity than in the streets and markets of Bamako. Bamako has a large art and craft center where sculptors, weavers, leather workers, jewelers and metal workers exhibit their wares and skills. Another highlight of your tour is the Grand Marché, “Great Market” where you can spend hours exploring hundreds of stalls. From carvings and fabrics to beads, brass and gold, there is a staggering variety of goods. One area of the market is devoted entirely to traditional African medicines.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 3 Timbuktu

Take an early flight to legendary Timbuktu located at the terminus of the great trans-Saharan caravan route. Timbuktu became fabulously wealthy in medieval times through the trans-Saharan trade. Loaded with blocks of salt huge convoys of camels would spend weeks crossing the unforgiving Sahara to reach Timbuktu. It was here that they would trade salt, pound-for-pound with merchants bringing gold and ivory along the Niger. Wander the dusty streets of Timbuktu, admiring magnificent mud-brick structures as the Djinguiraiber Mosque and the Mosque of Sankoré. See the houses of the various 19th century European explorers who used Timbuktu as a base.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 4 Mopti

Leave Timbuktu and fly to Mopti, where a fascinating mix of Malian ethnic groups Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Tuareg, Songhaï, and Hausa call the city home. Visit the beautiful mosque, the fishing port and the bustling market known for its gold and silver jewelry, Tuareg leather work, and Fulani blankets of cotton or wool.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 5 Dogon Country

Explore the mythical wonder that is Dogon Country (UNESCO World Heritage). Built up high on the narrow edges of the cliffs, the villages of the Dogon people, is one of the most extraordinary places on earth. In the 11th century, the Dogons fled the advance of Islam from the north, and found shelter in one of West Africa’s most inhospitable areas. This unique town has been declared a World Heritage site by the United Nations.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 6 Djénné

Travel to Mali’s other architectural and cultural jewel, Djénné. Founded in the 4th century; Djénné has scarcely changed since the Middle Ages. The atmosphere in the streets transports you back to medieval times. Visit Djénné’s colorful and bustling Monday market and The Great Mosque, which is the world’s biggest mud edifice.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 7 Ségou

After breakfast, drive to Ségou, Mali's second largest city and former colonial capital. This drive takes you through various rural farming and fishing villages. Excursions to nearby cultural sites including: Kalabougou, the pottery village, and Sékoro meaning “old-Ségou”, former capital of the Bambara kingdom.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Day 8 and 9 Festival On Niger

Two full days of festival activities: speakers, demonstrations, expositions, music, theater, traditional boat races, dance, etc set right on the Niger River one of Africa's greatest rivers. The highlight of each will the evening mega concerts with some of Mali's biggest stars.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner