Arrive Dakar, Senegal; meet assist and transfer to Hotel.

Meal(s) Included: No

Overnight at Sofitel Teranga Dakar or Similar

After breakfast, the morning is at lesure until your early afternoon city tour of Metropolitan Dakar. Visit the colorful markets including Tilen Market, famous for a variety of medicinal herbs and traditional healers and the picturesque residential district of Medina.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Sofitel Teranga Dakar or Similar

After breakfast, go on a tour of Goree Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Highlights will include a visit to the ethnographic museum, and a lecture by the curator on the history of the Island.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Sofitel Teranga Dakar or Similar

After breakfast, depart to Saint Louis located in the north of Senegal. En route, tour of Pink Lake, a rare natural phenomenon caused by a unique combination of microorganism and high concentration of salts which gives the lake its pink color. Interact with the women harvesting salt, then visit the Fulani village where you will be welcomed by the chief and his wives. Continue to Saint Louis. In the afternoon, city tour of Saint Louis including a visit to the fishing village of Guet Ndar.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at La Residence or Similar

Tour of St. Louis. Explore the narrow streets flanked by houses with carved wooden balconies and verandas. Visit the National Bird Sanctuary which has a vast array of birds including pelicans, ducks, flamingos, among others. Continue to Dakar where you will board your two hour flight to Bamako, Mali. Arrive in Bamako where you will be met, assisted, and transferred to your hotel.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast

Overnight at Laico Hotel El Farouk or Similar

Bamako is situated on the Niger, one of Africa's great rivers which flows through Mali. The city was founded in 1640, but didn't really start to grow until the French colonial period began in 1898.

Mali is a country of many tribal peoples, each with your own exuberant styles of clothing and jewelry. There is no where better to see this colorful diversity than in the streets and markets of Bamako.

Bamako has a large art and crafts centre where sculptors, weavers, leather workers, jewelers and metal workers exhibit their wares and skills. Another highlight of the tour is the Grand Marche, or 'Great Market', where you can spend hours exploring the hundreds of stalls. From carvings and cassettes, to fabrics, beads, brass and gold, the variety of goods is staggering.

One area of the market is devoted entirely to traditional African medicines. Here you'll find the freshly shrunken heads of birds, monkeys and crocodiles along with lizard skins and other gruesome treatments.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Laico Hotel El Farouk or Similar

Early morning, transfer to the airport for your flight to Timbuktu. Then, take a Timbuktu city tour. Visit the ancient mosques, the city market, the explorer's houses, the artisans center. In the afternoon, enjoy a camel ride on the dunes around Timbuktu.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Hendrina Khan Hotel or Similar

In the morning take a flight to Mopti, the Venice of Mali, nestled between the Niger and the Bani rivers. The Mopti city tour includes the beautiful mosque, the fishing port and the bustling market. Enjoy a sunset sail on the Niger River in a traditional pirogue.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Hotel Kanaga or Similar

After breakfast, drive to Djenne, Timbuktu's ancient sister city. Visit Djenne on its weekly market day, when Djenne is at its colorful best. Stroll around the market stalls, spread out before the magnificent Grand Mosque, which is the world's largest mud brick architecture and one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Hotel Kanaga or Similar

Travel to Sangha, comprised of 10 distinct Dogon villages - some are traditional animists and others have converted to Islam. Descend the Bandiagara escarpment and visit the village Banani. You will see ancient Tellem cave dwellings on cliffs' edges. Continue to the villages Ireli, Tireli, and Amani, site of a sanctuary for crocodiles which are sacred to the Dogon people.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight at Kanaga Cheval Blanc or Similar

Travel to Segou, Mali's second largest city and former colonial capital. Also visit the nearby village of Sekoro, the "old Segou" and capital of the Bambara Kingdom. See the tomb of King Biton Coulibaly.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight at Hotel Independence or Similar

After breakfast, continue the city tour of Segou and vicinity. In the afternoon return to Bamako where you will have a day room to refresh and relax before your onward flight this evening.

Meal(s) Included: Breakfast

2011 & 2012 Tour Schedule

January 8- 19, 2012

February 5 - 16, 2012

March 4 - 15, 2012

July 8 - 19, 2012

August 5- 16, 2012

September 2 - 13, 2012

October 7 - 18, 2012

Included

• Meeting and assistance upon arrival
• Roundtrip airport to hotel transfers and luggage handling
• Hotel accommodation in the indicated properties
• Transportation in private vehicle
• Experienced tour guides
• Meals indicated (11 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 5 dinners)
• Admission to sites listed
• Domestic airfare within Africa

Not included

• International flight to Mali
• Travel insurance
• Cost of Visa
• Gratuities for driver and guide