From here to Timbuktu

For me, Timbuktu falls into the same category as Atlantis; a mysterious, ethereal place that everyone has heard of, but are unsure whether it actually exists or not. Or at least it did before I begun to research it for my trip.

One of my friends is organising accommodation on the Ghanaian coast for Christmas, the other sorting our first few nights after we fly into Dakar, Senegal. I have been handed the arduous task of how to get to Timbuktu. Yeah, that's right, the place that's synonymous with being in the middle of nowhere. Great.

However, the more I learn about the desert city, the more excited I am about making the epic four-day river journey to get there. Starting life as an oasis camp for the nomadic Tuareg tribe in the eleventh century, Tombouctou blossomed into a trade and education centre for the whole of West Africa. Gold from the Ivory Coast passed through on its way to Europe, and the grand mosques were utilised as some of the first universities in the world, with thousands of students learning about Islam, trade and commerce.

Adding to its mystique, Timbuktu wasn't stumbled upon by a European until Scot Gordon Laing made it in one piece in the 19th century, after being slashed almost to death by Saharan robbers. Luckily, we won't be travelling through the desert on our way, as there are murmurs of modern bandits roaming the dunes above the city. But these guys have AK47's, not knives.

We shall be taking the far safer route up the river Niger through the fertile, green south of the country into the drier, dusty north. Our mode of transport will probably be one of the huge ferries that make regular journeys in the wet season. The alternative is on a tiny fishing boat called a pinasse, where we'll be sleeping on corrugated iron, and you have to lean over the side to go to the toilet...

So the atmosphere on this ferry sounds amazing! Honestly though, four days of not doing much at all, apart from soaking in Malian hospitality and culture, is just what the voodoo shaman ordered. Watching hippos graze as we pass, sunbathing on the roof and meeting some of the locals along the way. Stands to be one of the highlights of the trip.