northern mali

The cities of Tombouctou, and to a lesser extent Gao, became famous because they were once great, wealthy and powerful cities of knowledge and learning, a crossroads between many worlds. They marked the beginning and end (depending on your perspective) of the great trade routes across the desert. Since the 11th century, the Tuareg -- nomads of the desert -- have mined salt from the Sahara, and transported gold from West Africa to Europe.

But the services of the Tuareg are no longer needed, and to find economic freedom, they have (or had, when I was there) taken over the desert. A surprising large number of Europeans drive, or try to drive all manner of vehicles across the Sahara -- because if they make it, they can charge huge amounts of money for cars the locals otherwise couldn't get. So, while I was there, the Tuareg had started stealing the cars, and some guns, and they wouldn't let anyone cross. And they had killed some people who tried.

So, against the advice of everyone in Mopti, including the police, I took a bus through "rebel-infested" territory to Gao. There's something oddly disturbing about having five men on your bus with machine guns pointed out the window. But they all seemed pretty low-key along the way. Until we passed some sort of checkpoint, and all of a sudden all the guards became very alert.

From Gao, military convoys (large, well-armed military convoys) went out into the desert to fight the rebels. This is the view from my hotel.