Gao’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the centuries like the ups and downs of a yoyo. Once the imperial heart of the great Songhai Empire, the town was later almost entirely abandoned in favour of the new capital at af… See more

Get the haggling valves and the shopping glands ready for that trip to Bamako: Mali’s largest and most frenetic city, where bazaars touting everything from carved folklore figurines to stacks of pungent spices clust… See more

There are few sites in all of Mali – nay, all of north-west Africa – as impressive as the historic city of Djenné. Crowned at the center by the adobe rises of one fascinating Great Mosque, it is known for its distinctive mud-brick … See more

Straddling the courses of the Bani River, just a stone’s throw from where that desert-shrouded tributary meets the mighty Niger, Mopti has positioned itself as one of Mali’s most important riparian ports. But Mopti is also more t… See more