Cultural tour of Mali

Price

€2350 excluding flights

Duration

15 Days

Type

Tailor made

Reviews

More info

Included : the rental of a 4x4 and driver throughout the stay fuel, the pinasse (boat), hotels and encampments, three complete meals per day for the entire trip, tourist and hotel taxes the accompanying guide.
Child prices available on request

Description of Cultural tour of Mali

Price information

€2350 excluding flights

Contact Us

If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one, we're very happy to help

1-866-821-6866

Call toll free

Calling from outside the USA rosy@responsibletravel.com

Departure information

Departs every Saturday throughout the year

Contact Us

If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one, we're very happy to help

1-866-821-6866

Call toll free

Calling from outside the USA rosy@responsibletravel.com

Travel guides

2 minute summary Best time to go

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Reviews

1 Reviews of Cultural tour of Mali

5 out of 5 stars

SHOW

Reviewed on 07 Feb 2015 by Susan Aschim

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?

We named it the “5000 Star Hotel” under the full moon on a windy night as we told stories around a small fire. That was on the very edge of the Bandiagara Cliff in Dogon Country. The rocks and the edge of the cliffs were –right there
—and the stories told and laughter were very precious. Our guide Aly and his Dogon friends made a conversation in multiple broken languages fun and enlightening. It truly felt like the mythical Shangra-La.

And the rich history of Timbuktu. It’s not just a faraway mythical place!

We also saw repeated mixing of old and new – slabs of salt and solar panels both for sale at the market . . . and a gentleman from Timbuktu offered to trade me a camel for my cell phone/camera. If only I could have stuffed a camel in our extra suitcase?

2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?

We took a break from the road and stopped in San. “Oh no,” I thought, “not another mosque . . . “ and darned if that mosque wasn’t surrounded by acres of open space, had a particularly interesting “hearse” parked on the side, and was
surrounded by newly harvested rice spread out and drying on the adjacent streets. I would have missed all that, along with the rice hulling, and the different varieties of rice. Taught me to be curious even when tired.

Everywhere you look there is something new and entirely different going on.

The more French you have the better, although we had to learn different greetings every so often as we moved from one tribal area to another. If you like camping you’ll get a bit of that as well as some lovely hotels and
accommodations that are a mix of the two!

3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?

Buying indigo-dyed cotton from the ladies who made it was a special time. We saw the cotton being woven and the boys in the village preparing the cotton string to set up the loom. The whole village contributed to the cotton and
indigo business.

We toured the mudcloth artists’ colony in Segou and bought pieces from the artists themselves or from the Women’s Cooperative in Djenne. It was good to meet the people making the fabulous art pieces and knowing the money directly benefited them.

As much as we could we tried to eat the local food, not imported or processed stuff. We ate lots of fresh fruit, dates and peanuts, too. Bottled water is required and helped us stay healthy. The empty bottles were a hot item for reuse and gifts for the children. Seems like it would be pretty hard to improve on the compost toilets built in to the mud houses. We could see that very little is wasted on our journey. It was humbling.

4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?

Better than I could have possibly imagined! I’ve never traveled with a guide before and what a huge difference it made. Our guide and owner of the agency, and his network of guides really added to our understanding of the
culture and traditions of Mali. We didn’t give a moment’s thought to where to go to get a good vantage point or which hotel would be safe and economical, Aly took care of all of that seamlessly. We were welcomed by everyone we met; even strangers thanked us for coming to Mali. I’m already saving up to go again!

Responsible Travel

As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) vacation so that you can travel knowing it will help support the places and people that you visit, and the planet. Read how below.

Planet

Community
We work hard to ensure positive impacts to the local communities and surroundings that we encounter, and encourage travelers to contribute items that are inexpensive and easy to pack, such as pens for schoolchildren and recycled clothing.

Our group sizes typically range from 5 to 9 people, which we believe minimizes impact to the environment and allows our travelers to gain more insight into their surroundings through more individual attention from our guides. We derive ultimate satisfaction from teaching our guests about Malian culture and keeping our traditions and heritage alive through carefully-planned, sustainable, developing tourism.

We employ 100% local guides, drivers and cooks. Guides are selected who already have special knowledge about the areas they will introduce to tourists, have numerous local contacts, and constantly seek to increase their knowledge and have a passion for teaching tourists about their environments. With visits to local fruit and spice markets, a local women’s cooperative selling pottery & eating in local restaurants, this trip helps to stimulate the local economy.

Environment
In Mali, key tourist destinations are spread far throughout the country, and we plan tours carefully so as to maximise ride sharing. We make sure to arrange transport that accommodates maximum capacity while still maintaining comfort for our guests. Mineral water is safest for tourists and we always offer empty bottles to children and adults along our journeys who will continue a long cycle of re-use for the bottles. Mali currently is working to reduce large amounts of plastic bags that are not properly disposed of throughout the land, and travelers are quickly made aware of this and encouraged to individually do their part to dispose of any waste in designated facilities.

People

We work hard to ensure positive impacts to the local communities and surroundings that we encounter, and encourage travelers to contribute items that are inexpensive and easy to pack, such as pens for schoolchildren and recycled clothing. Our group sizes typically range from 5 to 9 people, which we believe minimizes impact to the environment and allows our travelers to gain more insight into their surroundings through more individual attention from our guides. We derive ultimate satisfaction from teaching our guests about Malian culture and keeping our traditions and heritage alive through carefully-planned, sustainable, developing tourism.

We employ 100% local guides, drivers and cooks. With a visit to the local market in Bamako and eating in local restaurants, this trip helps to stimulate the local economy. Guides are selected who already have special knowledge about the areas they will introduce to tourists, have numerous local contacts, and constantly seek to increase their knowledge and have a passion for teaching tourists about their environments. Travelers have a unique opportunity to interact with the local Dogon community - meeting the villagers and ancient dwellings of Tellems and discovering the Dogon traditions of weaving cotton to make bogolan (mud cloth) as well as carving wooden masks and fertility statues.

Cultural tour of Mali