Mali is not for those wanting a conventional holiday. It is thousands of miles away from the nearest beach, there are no beautifully equipped safari camps and the distances are vast. However it does have a smorgasbord of surreal landscapes, beautiful artwork, castellated mosques made entirely of mud, most notably in the medieval city of Djenne.

Accommodation is basic but comfortable and the roads are not great, but this is more than made up by the wealth of experiences you will discover in Mali. Some go for the haunting mudbrick architecture, floating down the Niger River in a pirogue or walking amongst the animist Dogon people, with their vast mythology reflected in their heretic masks and delicate wood carvings.

Others wish to enter one of the most forgotten corners of the Sahara. Others come to shop amongst Mali's rich heritage of textile and jewellery. Others are drawn by the quixotic mystery of the great cattle herding Peul people or the camel breeding Tuareg of the north, while many come just to settle that itching desire to walk through the streets of Timbuktu.

Whatever you travel to Mali for, it is the memory of the people that will catch your imagination. Most of them are poor beyond imagination, but they are proud, laughter filled and disturbingly beautiful.

Essential Information
A visa is required by UK passport holder
No mandatory vaccinations