Travel information for your Mali Travel

“Un peuple, un but, une foi“ (French) – “One people, one goal, one faith“, this is Mali’s slogan. Still what the traveller will discover in Mali is its exciting cultural, geographical and ethnic diversity. The impressive West African country, one of the poorest states in the world, has many amazing attractions of its own to fascinate the visitor.

Surrounded by Algeria in the North and Northwest, Niger in the East and South, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast in the South, Guinea in the South West, Senegal in the West and Mauritania in the West and Northwest, Mali’s geographical position offers a remarkable multitude of different influences. The country is made up of three different regions: the Sahel and Sudan regions in the South, and the Sahara desert in the North. 

Mali’s cultural life leaves nothing to be desired for either. Two Old Towns were selected as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO. Timbuktu, once an important cultural centre in the world, has many tourist attractions that include three mud mosques of the 14th century, the Djinguereber Mosque, the Sankore Mosque and the Sidi Yahya Mosque.
The city of Djenné, however, is famous for its traditional mud brick architecture. Most prominent is the Great Mosque of Djenné, which is the largest mud brick building on earth.

What’s more, the rich mixture of people adds to the country’s cultural variety. Next to the Bambara that make up the largest ethnic group, the well-known Tuareg nomad group (nicknamed “the blue men of the desert”), the Soninké, Senufo, Dogon, Malinké, Songhai and many more inhabit Mali.

The arts are promoted as well. Mali’s own musical style with happy cheerful sounds are more and more in demand internationally, as for example Salif Keita, Ali Farka Touré, Habib Koité or Oumou Sangaré, who was elected for the UNESCO prize.
The capital Bamako hosts the Biennale of Photography, an important event with more than 200 internationally known photographers.

Travellers looking for souvenirs are spoilt for choice among many hand-maid music instruments, ivory carvings, traditional garments, silver jewellery and lots of other typical Western African artefacts.

In the end, exciting safaris in the desert make for an adventurous journey to watch and photograph animals such as the hippopotamus, the heraldic animal of Mali. By the way, the word “Mali” belongs to the indigenous Bambara language and means “hippopotamus”.  People especially interested in the flora and fauna of the Southern Sahara may enjoy a visit to the La Boucle du Baoule National Park.