"More than just Timbuktu......." a Mali Travel Page by flynboxes

Hmmm......
For a number of reasons. First there are not a whole lot of posts on the place nor does it have it's on Lonely Planet guide book....just kidding...even though there really is not much written about the place.
It is also for the most part an Islamic country, I guess I have a strange attraction to Islamic countries....l like them since I tend to feel safer in them...hard to believe coming from an American right? While some locals may lie a bit they tend not to steal from you. There is a ***load of history here which I will not even scratch the surface of. And last but not least Dogon country was a great place to get some exercise hiking thru.

They say that Africans think the world is a big place......they tend to walk as their primary mode of getting around......scooters are starting to pop up which may modify this a bit but probably not much. Anyway as hot and or wet as this place gets people are still kind. They say to get around here you need to speak a bit of French due to Mali's past. I spoke around 5 words and did just fine here. You can find someone in every major town that speaks a bit of English. If you are in the smaller villages....then you might need some French. I did not have enough time here to get that far off the beaten path.

For most English speaking tourists the first thing they will hear when they get off the plane is a local guide trying to hsutle them into a trip to Timbuktu. While I won't say that it was not on my list of places to visit....it is a bit anticlimactic once you get there. For me Dogon Country was more fun and where I got some better photos. There is also a list of other places to visit here which are deserving of a fair amount of time.