Mali Trip

Koulikoro region – one of the 8 regions in Mali, located in south-western part of the country.

Mali is a landlocked nation in West Africa, located southwest of Algeria. At 1,240,000 square kilometres (479,000 sq mi), Mali is the world’s 24th-largest country and is comparable in size to South Africa or Peru. Most of the country lies in the southern Sahara, which produces a hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons. The country extends southwest through the subtropical Sahel to the Sudanian savanna zone.Mali is mostly flat, rising to rolling northern plains covered by sand. The Adrar des Ifoghas lies in the northeast.

The country’s climate ranges from subtropical in the south to arid in the north. Most of the country receives negligible rainfall; droughts are frequent. Late June to early December is the rainy season. During this time, flooding of the Niger River is common.The nation has considerable natural resources, with gold, uranium, phosphates, kaolinite, salt and limestone being most widely exploited. Mali faces numerous environmental challenges, including desertification, deforestation, soil erosion, and inadequate supplies of potable water.

The very best time to visit Mali is between November and January, before the heat hits in March and after the wet humid season. Trips down the Niger are also a good bet in November as the river is usually high enough for passenger boats to get through. By December and January boat trips may be more of a hop from one sandbank to another if not cancelled altogether. November, though, is also the high tourist season so if you prefer to sacrifice a bit of comfort for peace and quiet, you could go in December for the crossing of the cattle at Diafarabé. Mali’s most famous cultural event is the Festival in the Desert, a musical extravaganza of the country’s best musicians amid the sand dunes near Timbuktu which takes place in early January. In fact anytime from October through to February is a reasonable time to go, but trying to get around Mali in the hot season from March to May is strictly for masochists.

Bamakó, population 1,690,471 (2006), is the capital and largest city of Mali, and currently estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa (6th fastest in the world)^[1]. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys, in the southwestern part of the country. Bamako is the nation’s administrative center, with a river port located in nearby Koulikoro, and a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the 7th largest West African urban center after Lagos, Abidjan, Kano, Ibadan, Dakar and Accra. Manufactures include textiles, processed meat and metal goods. There is commercial fishing on the Niger River. Bamako is located at 12°39′N, 8°0′W.^[2] The name Bamako comes from the Bambara word meaning “crocodile’s back

Mali, officially the Republic of Mali (French: République du Mali), is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. It is the seventh largest country in Africa. It borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d’Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its straight borders on the north stretch into the centre of the Sahara, while the country’s south, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Senegal rivers.

The area of present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali takes its name), and the Songhai Empire. In the late 1800s, Mali fell under French control, becoming part of French Sudan. Mali gained its independence, with Senegal, as the Mali Federation in 1959, becoming the independent nation of Mali in 1960. After a long period of one-party rule, a 1991 coup led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state.