fastest route to timbuktou
 

xr650l and tenere rider travelling to tmb2 on7th nov return 19th dec for xmas with kids.
I would like advice on the swiftest route to and interesting route return. Both of us are 1st timeers.

just realsied didnt specify where i am starting from.Enland ferry to Santander then ride down to south and ferry to Morroco-west sahara-mauritania-mali and back

Sorry to be a party pooper and this does not answer your question but we planned to go to tombouctou during our trip but were told that you have to pay to get in - some sort of tourist tax. That put us right off! It's just not the same if there are so many people goiung there now that they can charge a tourist tax...and then of course there's the internet cafe!

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Africa Trip web journal

Re the tourist tax point, I really wouldn't worry about this. From memory (it was 2 years ago) it was next to nothing-a few hundred CFA maybe as much as 1,000 but as that is only £1 it's no big deal. In fact, we didn't pay it and simply drove past the stop point anyway!

Quite whether it's worth the trip is another point but if you do go head for the small museum at, I think it's called, the Ahmed Baba centre. It is truly extraordinary to see all the beatifully illustrated texts (often medical or scientific) from a time when we weren't even in the middle ages.

Have a good trip!
Q