"A classic amongst travellers" a Timbuktu Travel Page by SirRichard

Saying Timbuktu often takes you to dreaming of distant lands, inaccesible towns, 1001 nights... Timbuktu is a legendary city for its position in the middle of Africa, being an ancient mercantile crossroad and one of the last places reached by european explorers in Africa, due to its prohibition for non-mulims till recently.

But Timbuktu itself is no more than a few adobe houses and 3 mosques in the southern limit of the Sahara. Don't expect a mysterious place with palaces and charming markets. It is not a touristic place, there are just 3-4 hotels and a few restaurants, no souvenir shops, no tourist attractions. Many visitors get disappointed when they finally arrive, tough most say that the real attractive of Timbuktu is the way to get here, which is not easy neither short...

A popular activity here is to take a 2-3 days camel trip and sleep in a touareg tent inside the Sahara. It has something of a tourist trap, but is definetly a good experience if it's your first time in the desert...