Passport & Visas

All non-Malian nationals must travel with a current passport and visa which is obtainable from your nearest Malian consulate:

There are also Malian embassies and consulates in Berlin (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland), Washington DC (USA), Pretoria (South Africa) and Perth (Australia).     The Malian Embassy in Brussels tends to be a lot quieter and easier to deal with than the consulate in Paris.    You can find full details of Malian Embassies and consulates AND plenty of other tips for travelling to Mali at http://www.sagatours.com/traveltips.html

A standard tourist visa valid for one month costs about 25 GBP, 30 EUROS. To obtain your visa contact your nearest embassy or consulate for a visa application form and then apply either by post or in person.    You will also need two standard passport sized photographs.    The process takes a minimum of 2-3 weeks.    You can download a pdf of the visa application form from http://www.friendsofmali-uk.org/links.html   
Go down to Mali Travel Advice and follow instructions.

If you don't have the time to send off for a visa by post, or to wait the usual turn-around time of 2-3 weeks, you can go in person to your nearest Embassy or Consulate and explain why you need your visa to be delivered in a day.    The staff will usually be understanding and grant your request.

Vaccinations and Health

A current certificate of vaccination against Yellow Fever is obligatory for entry into Mali.    Meningitis, Hepatitis A, Tetanus, typhoid and polio jabs are also highly recommended.    Consult your local doctor or immunisation centre for details.

Timbuktu and Mopti are both in malarial areas.    You're advised to take precautions.    Consult your doctor.    I have found that Malarone is one of the best anti-Malarials, but it's expensive.    The best protection against Malaria is not to get bitten.    Spray exposed parts of the body with DEET-based mosquito repellant, and wear long trousers and long-sleeved t-shirts from sunset onwards.

One of the easiest ways to get ill in the desert is to drink water infected with water-born microbes such as Typhoid and Hepatitis-A.    Visitors on short trips to the region (up to 21 days) are advised to only drink bottled water (ensuring the bottle seal is intact at time of purchase), or to boil or filter their water before drinking it.    Treatment with a few drops of iodine tincture also helps, but makes the water taste pretty foul.     You should also brush your teeth with bottled water, and avoid eating raw salads or ice-cream in restaurants etc.
WASH YOUR HANDS AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.    Travel wet wipes are always useful.

For those spending more than three weeks in the desert, it's probably advisable to get your system used to local well water as quickly as possible.   Much of it is very clean and drinkable, although initial stomach infections can occur.

If you take regular medication please remember to bring enough supplies for the duration of your stay in Mali, as you may not be able to find them locally.

Temperatures

The average temperatures for December, January and February in Timbuktu and Kidal are 31°C in the day and 13°C at night.    But it can get much colder at night in Kidal, Tessalit and the Adrar des Iforas in general…at times even below freezing.     That's why it's advisable to bring a mix of light cotton clothing and warm fleeces, hats etc.    A very good sleeping bag is essential.

Insurance

Make sure to buy a good travel insurance policy before you go.

What to bring

•  A good four season sleeping bag (the desert gets very cold at night)
•  Warm clothing (including sweatshirt and a heavy duty sweater or fleece)
•  Light cotton clothing (long-sleeve T-shirts are a good idea)
•  Sunglasses
•  Sun-block (at least Factor 20)
•  Sun Hat (or just buy a cheche / turban locally if you prefer)
•  Lip-salve (v important.   The heat and dryness wreak havoc with your lips).
•  A good pair of boots or trainers (canvas better than leather – the more breathable the better)
•  A pair of sandals / flip flops
•  Your own towel
•  Shampoo and any other toiletries you might need.
•  Money belt
•  Day pack / bag
•  MEDICAL KIT:   Malaria tablets, anti-diarrheal, aspirin, eye drops, insect repellent, wet wipes, calamine lotion, moisturizing skin lotion, rehydration kit, all personal prescriptions.
•  Toilet Paper
•  A small torch
•  All the batteries you need for cameras, recorders, VCRs etc.
•  All prescription drugs that you must take on a regular basis
•  Small presents for people who are kind to you (t-shirts, books, packs of post cards, cassettes, little electronic gadgets, guitar-strings for musicians)

Communications

Most of the major cities and towns in Mali are now linked to the mobile telephone system.    These include Mopti, Gao, Timbuktu, Kidal and Tessalit.    If you have a tri-band mobile phone with international roaming, you should be able to make and receive calls from these main population centres.    If you plan to spend a length of time in Mali, you should buy a local mobile phone, with a pay-as-you-go plan with either Malitel or Ikatel.   Your calls will be much much cheaper. You can buy top-up cards everywhere.

If you want to make calls whilst away from towns or cities, you'll need to get a Thuraya Satphone.    These cost about €500+ new, but are very common in the desert.    You can get top-up cards easily.    You can also get Satellite modems.

Money and Credit Cards

The local currency in Mali is the CFA Franc.    This is a pan-West African currency and it is pegged to the EURO.    You can usually get between 640 and 655 CFA per Euro.    

You're advised to bring either Euros or Dollars.   British Pound Sterling and other currencies will only be accepted in the larger banks in Bamako.  

Credit Cards are only used in the largest banks, hotels and restaurants in Bamako, Mopti, Timbuktu and Sevare.    You should never count on being able to use one.    Visa Card is by far the most popular card, MasterCard and Amex are rarely accepted.   

There is one ATM in Mali, located in Bamako.    It accepts only Visa Card.

There are Western Union outlets in Bamako, Segou, Mopti, Sevare, Timbuktu and Gao.    There's also a bank in Kidal, the BMS (Banque Malienne de la Solidarité), which accepts Moneygram Transfers.

Security etc

The perennial travel advice given by the UK Foreign Office, the French Ministre des Affaires Etrangères and the US State Department paints the northern desert regions of Mali as a lawless no-go zone where banditry, car-jacking and Islamic terrorism are rife.    However, this is a grossly exaggerated picture.    The fact is that statistically it is safer to visit Timbuktu, Kidal or Tessalit that it is to visit London, New York, Chicago, Rome or many other so-called ‘safe' European and North American cities.    This travel advice, which never seems to be revisited or revised, is one of the major blocks to the development of northern Mali, and a source of great frustration to those who are trying to help the region, as well as its own inhabitants.

As for the political unrest that has occurred in the north over the past decade or so, the situation in Mali now thankfully seems to be stable.    The same cannot be said for Niger however, and those who intend to travel to northern Niger, and it's main town Agadez, should seek separate advice from travel and desert info forums.    What political unrest has occurred in Mali in the past has hardly ever targeted or involved outside visitors, and the existence of a significant Islamic fundamentalist or Al Qaida presence in northern Mali is a myth (see articles on the subject by Prof. Jeremy Keenan).

Muggings and car-jackings do occur infrequently, as they do in all major western cities.    Caution should be taken along the tarmaced road between Douentza and Gao, and along the piste which travels the northern bank of the Niger between Gao and Timbuktu.    Day time travel only is advised along these stretches.

It is always better to travel any desert roads or pistes with a LOCAL / desert driver or guide who knows the roads.    Stories of drivers from Bamako getting hopelessly lost between Sevaré and Timbuktu or Gao and Kidal are legion.   

Mali is in general a very friendly and safe country for travellers, especially in comparison to most other African countries.    However it is also one of the poorest countries in the world, and therefore the usual precautions for travellers in poor countries should be observed:   don't display our wealth, keep valuables and important documents like passports hidden on your person, don't leave anything valuable in your hotel room, don't walk alone off the beaten track especially at night, always inform your companions or someone in authority where you are going, don't hand over your passport or any other valuables to people claiming to be policemen in plain clothes.    Be polite and firm at all times.   

Photography / filming etc

Mali and the desert are very very photogenic.     It's difficult to avoid having your camera almost permanently in your hands and ready to snap.     However, especially when local people are in the frame, it's always better out of basic respect and politeness to try and establish some kind of rapport with them before taking their picture, and at the very least, asking their permission to do so.

Certain sensitive buildings, installations and subjects should not be photographed without clear permission from someone in charge.    These include airports, military barracks and equipment, police stations, mosques, funerals or other religious rites, soldiers, police and other security personnel.   

Although basic photographic supplies including batteries, memory cards and sticks, film etc etc are available in the larger cities, it's advisable to take all the equipment and supplies you need with you from Europe.

Alcohol / Drugs / Dress Codes

Although Mali is a Muslim country, it practices a tolerant form of Islam which is far removed from the strictures of the Middle East.    Very few women in Mali carry the veil (it's more likely to be the men who do in the northern desert).   

However, this tolerance should not be abused.    Even though there are plenty of Touareg and other desert people who enjoy a drink of beer (or even a drop of the local ‘whiskey' or ‘wine') being drunk and disorderly in public will cause offence and at worst get you into trouble with the police.   Prohibited drugs, including cannabis, should be only consumed in private and with caution.   Being caught with drugs by the police could result in either severe fines or prison sentences.  

Dress sensitively.   Short trousers, worn by men or women, are either misunderstood or considered to be very comical by local people.    Walking around bare-chested is inadvisable, not least because you'll get a bad case of sunstroke.    Women should take a shawl to cover their shoulders when meeting dignitaries, elderly people or visiting mosques and other religious sites.   

Language

The language of the Touareg is Tamashek.    This is a lybico-berber language, with close ties to the berber dialects of north Africa like Kabyle and Chleuch.    The Touareg also have their own alphabet, known as tifinar, which is one of the oldest alphabets in the world still in daily use.

There are numerous dialects of Tamashek spoken throughout the desert.    For a very dry and academic overview see the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_languages

The Paris based publishing company Karthala (http://www.karthala.com), who publish numerous excellent works on the Touareg and the Sahara, have produced a Tamashek – English - French dictionary, edited by Jeffrey Heath.   

The lingua franca of Mali is French, and even a basic grasp of this language will allow the traveller to deal with most daily situations.    Other languages spoken in the desert north are Arabic, Fulani and Songhai.    

Gifts etc

It's natural as a mark of gratitude or friendship to give gifts to those who have been generous to you with their time or their help and advice.    However we must be aware that owing to the grinding poverty which prevails in Mali, foreign visitors are often seen as angels sent from El Dorado with unlimited wealth stashed in their backpacks.   In order to avoid exacerbating this misconception you need to make sure that any gift-giving is done in a measured and discreet fashion.   Rewarding generosity and friendship is fine but grand and arbitrary handouts of largesse should be avoided.

Items might be appreciated are good quality clothes especially designer threads and music merchandise (t-shirts, baseball caps, bags with logos), head torches, funky pens or other toys like kites or Frisbees for the kids, and postcards and calendars or your home country.    Musicians appreciate guitar strings, plectrums, blank cassettes, and any other bits of musical equipment, new and used.

There's a lot of talk in the back packing community about the pros and cons of giving little gifts like sweets and pens to children.    Most people are against it saying it encourages begging.    The alternative is to bring equipment for schools, which would be very much appreciated (sets of colouring pens, crayons, pencils, notebooks, large picture books and children's encyclopaedias, old cameras, computer equipment, chalks, English – French dictionaries etc etc)