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Mali is not the place to go for safaris. What it does have is a smorgasbord of surreal landscapes, beautiful artwork, Timbuktu, castellated mosques made entirely of mud, pink sandstone villages carved into cliff faces, and undulating desert scenes that look like outtakes from Lawrence of Arabia.

At the borders of the clenching grasp of the Sahara, the south part of Mali is the most hospitable. While temperatures in the south are only slightly less hot than the north, with few days staying below 30°C (86°F) and some passing 40°C (104°F), things get quite stifling on the more humid days during the middle of the year. December to March tends to have the best combination of heat and humidity with neither being too high - at least by Mali standards.

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Mali is a country old enough to have rock paintings that date back to a time when the Sahara was a blossoming paradise but the first known empire in the region was the Empire of Ghana. This was destroyed in the 11th century by Muslim Berbers from Mauritania and Morocco who objected to the lukewarm manner in which the empire embraced Islam. By the middle of the 13th century, however, Sundiata Keita, leader of the Mandinka people, had strategically converted the empire to Islam and taken out a monopoly on the gold and salt trade. Under the influence of several progressive Mansas (Lords), Djenné and Timbuktu became the commercial Shangri-las of West Africa, with several mosques and a couple of universities being built as part of the push to create a great and powerful empire.

But to the east the Songhaï had established their own city around Gao. They were powerful and well organised and, more to the point, had been busy creating a professional army and a civil service while the Mali empire had been building universities. When push came to shove, the traders and students were no match for the soldiers and bureaucrats and the Songhaï Empire took over the Sahel. Their victory was short-lived, however, lasting a mere century before there was another bloody and losing encounter with the Moroccan Berbers. At the same time European ships were plying the coast of West Africa, thus circumventing the Saharan trade route and knocking the bottom out of the Sahel wealth. The city of Timbuktu was abandoned and began to acquire its out-of-the-way reputation. In 1883 Mali became a French colony and, although a few railways and irrigation systems were built, Mali was always considered the poor cousin of other West African colonies.

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In June 1960 Mali finally gained its independence and merged with Senegal to form a federation but the honeymoon was short and turbulent and by August Senegal had seceded and Modibo Keita became the first president of the Mali Republic. Keita opted to play both sides of the political fence by retaining political and economic ties with France but relying heavily on Soviet military advice. In a fit of national pride Mali left the franc zone in 1962, established its own currency, and embarked on a series of disastrous socialist policies that sent the economy bust and caused a national tightening of the belt. These austere cost-cutting ventures proved to be highly unpopular and in 1968 Moussa Traoré took over the country in a bloodless coup.

Traoré ruled Mali from 1968 to 1991 but not always well and not always benevolently. Mali was a relatively peaceful republic in the 1970s and '80s, although there were several obligatory coup attempts and a well-publicised student strike in 1979. In 1991, however, all Traoré's sins came home to roost. His heavy-handed treatment of Tuareg rebels, his repeated refusals to consider political pluralism, and his open-fire policy toward strikers and rioters led Lt.Col Amadou Toumani Touré to take control of the country and appoint a civilian, Soumana Sacko, to head a transitional government. In 1992 multiparty elections were held and Alpha Konaré was invested as President. Konaré was reelected by a landslide in 1997, but could not run for a third term.

Touré, who'd become a national hero for his abdication in favour of a democratic process following the coup he staged, came out of retirement to win the presidency in May 2002, although the result was stained somewhat by allegations of irregularities.

Though the former general is widely respected for his peace efforts and humanitarian work, there were signs of tensions within the political elite. The government resigned en masse without explanation October 2002, and its replacement - dubbed a 'government of national unity' - did likewise in April 2004.

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There are a number of European carriers that fly into Bamako Airport, but if you wish to fly in from the USA you need to transfer to a regional flight at Dakar or Abidjan. The airport is about 10km (6mi) from Bamako. Point Afrique, flying from Paris and Marseilles to Gao, Timbuktu or Bamako, is a charter company that provides great bargains to out-of-the-way places. Airport tax is included in the ticket price.

Getting into Mali by road is always on the cards since it's a landlocked republic. With the exception of Algeria, you can bus into Mali from any direction although the comfort factor of the trip varies depending on the condition of the road and the time of the year. Bush taxis are a viable alternative for shorter trips, or a combination of bus and bush taxi. In some cases, such as between Mauritania and Mali, you might need to mix and match your travel modes, catching trucks and pick-ups between scheduled buses and bush taxis. Between Senegal and Mali express train is the transport of choice as the roads are in such bad condition. Apart from road and air, the other more exotic way to get into Mali is by boat, floating up the Niger from Guinea.

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Getting around Mali is usually a matter of taking a passenger boat down the Niger (or a smaller pirogue or pinasse on shorter trips), or buses and bush taxis. Buses tend to be more popular than bush taxis for long hauls as they are cheaper and more reliable, although bush taxis may be the only choice available on shorter trips. The only train journey within Mali is between Bamako and Kayes but there are a number of flights out of Bamako to various destinations. Hiring a car to get aroud is not entirely impossible but you can get bogged down in a few difficulties. For a start you need insurance and a carnet de passage and buying petrol can sometimes be difficult.

(All information courtesy of Lonely Planet)

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