West Africa Sahel Desert Crossing

Mali and Niger · Mali

Expedition Grade14 daysAfrica~£3,000 est.

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Overview

Say it plainly first: the FCDO currently advises against travel to Mali and most of Niger, and this journey only exists when the security picture allows — through specialist operators, on current advice, or not at all. What waits, when a window opens, is West Africa's deepest cultural landscape. The Bandiagara Escarpment runs 150 km through Dogon country, villages built under the cliff beside the impossibly perched granaries of the vanished Tellem; Djenné's Grand Mosque, the largest mud building on earth, is re-plastered by the whole town in an annual festival. Far to the east, Agadez's mud minaret marks the door to the Aïr Mountains, where Tuareg guides still travel between oasis gardens and Saharan rock-art galleries. Travel is 4WD-supported with local guides throughout — non-negotiable for navigation and courtesy alike — and November to February is the only sensible season: cool, dry, with harmattan dust as the trade-off. Budget around £3,000 for two supported weeks, plus flights, visas for both countries and insurance that genuinely covers the region.