Mali Segou music festival country tour
Click here to enquire about or book this holiday!
Basic information
Location: Mali: Bamako, Timbuktu, Mopti, Pays-Dogon, Djenne, Segou.
Departures: January - December
Duration: 10 days
Group size: 2+ people
Price: From £1320, (double occupancy; single supplement of £200) including hotel accommodation, meals as listed, private ground transportation, flights between sites, experienced English and French-speaking guide, airport transfers upon arrival and departure, all hotel taxes and local tourism taxes, all site visits and entry fees including museums and festival. Not including international flight to Mali, travel insurance, visa fees, drinks, and gratuities.
What will I be doing on this trip?
Associated activities: Festival, music, arts, folklore, cultural visit and exchange, trekking, conferences and presentations on local and global issues, pirogue race, theatre, puppetry, mud-cloth and pottery making workshop, assist various traditional dance, cruise on the Niger River, and much more!
Location: Mali: Bamako, Timbuktu, Mopti, Pays-Dogon, Djenne, Segou.
Departures: January - December
Duration: 10 days
Group size: 2+ people
Price: From £1320, (double occupancy; single supplement of £200) including hotel accommodation, meals as listed, private ground transportation, flights between sites, experienced English and French-speaking guide, airport transfers upon arrival and departure, all hotel taxes and local tourism taxes, all site visits and entry fees including museums and festival. Not including international flight to Mali, travel insurance, visa fees, drinks, and gratuities.
What will I be doing on this trip?
Associated activities: Festival, music, arts, folklore, cultural visit and exchange, trekking, conferences and presentations on local and global issues, pirogue race, theatre, puppetry, mud-cloth and pottery making workshop, assist various traditional dance, cruise on the Niger River, and much more!
Held annually in Ségou, Mali, in February, Festival on the Niger is a cultural celebration displaying the richness of this beautiful country through folklore, contemporary music, arts/crafts expositions (textiles, pottery, sculpture, jewellery), traditional dance, puppet troupes, theatre, pirogue races on the Niger River and more! Get to know Segou and learn about the ancient Bambara Kingdom. Segou has some of Mali’s best adobe architecture.
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My holiday itinerary...
Day 01: Bamako
Arrival International flight arrives in Bamako, Mali. Assistance from guide/driver for airport formalities and transfer to hotel. Spend a leisurely evening at your hotel.
Day 2: BamakoTour
Bamako situated on the banks of the Niger River, one of Africa’s great rivers. Mali is a country of many ethnic groups, each with their own exuberant styles of clothing, jewelry, and distinct way of life and there is nowhere better to see this colorful diversity than in the streets and markets of Bamako.
Bamako has a large art and craft center where sculptors, weavers, leather workers, jewelers and metal workers exhibit their wares and skills. Another highlight of your tour is the Grand Marché, “Great Market” where you can spend hours exploring hundreds of stalls.
From carvings and fabrics to beads, brass and gold, there is a staggering variety of goods including traditional African medicines. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner |  |
Day 3: Timbuktu
Take an early flight to legendary Timbuktu located at the terminus of the great trans-Saharan caravan route. Timbuktu became fabulously wealthy in medieval times through the trans-Saharan trade. Loaded with blocks of salt huge convoys of camels would spend weeks crossing the unforgiving Sahara to reach Timbuktu.
Take an early flight to legendary Timbuktu located at the terminus of the great trans-Saharan caravan route. Timbuktu became fabulously wealthy in medieval times through the trans-Saharan trade. Loaded with blocks of salt huge convoys of camels would spend weeks crossing the unforgiving Sahara to reach Timbuktu.
It was here that they would trade salt, pound-for-pound with merchants bringing gold and ivory along the Niger. Wander the dusty streets of Timbuktu, admiring magnificent mud-brick structures as the Djinguiraiber Mosque and the Mosque of Sankoré. See the houses of the various 19th century European explorers who used Timbuktu as a base. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
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Day 4: Mopti
Leave Timbuktu and fly to Mopti, where a fascinating mix of Malian ethnic groups such as the Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Tuareg, Songhaï, and Hausa call the city home. Visit the beautiful mosque, the fishing port and the bustling market known for its gold and silver jewelry, Tuareg leather work, and Fulani blankets of cotton or wool. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Leave Timbuktu and fly to Mopti, where a fascinating mix of Malian ethnic groups such as the Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Tuareg, Songhaï, and Hausa call the city home. Visit the beautiful mosque, the fishing port and the bustling market known for its gold and silver jewelry, Tuareg leather work, and Fulani blankets of cotton or wool. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 5: Dogon Country
Explore the mythical wonder that is Dogon Country (UNESCO World Heritage). Built up high on the narrow edges of the cliffs, the villages of the Dogon people are one of the most extraordinary places on earth. In the 11th century, the Dogons fled the advance of Islam from the north, and found shelter in one of West Africa’s most inhospitable areas. This unique town has been declared a World Heritage site by the United Nations. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner |  |
Day 6: Djénné
Travel to Mali’s other architectural and cultural jewel, Djénné. Founded in the 4th century; Djénné has scarcely changed since the Middle Ages. The atmosphere in the streets transports you back to medieval times. Visit Djénné’s colorful and bustling Monday market and The Great Mosque, which is the world’s biggest mud edifice. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 7: Ségou
After breakfast, drive to Ségou, Mali's second largest city and former colonial capital. This drive takes you through various rural farming and fishing villages. Excursions to nearby cultural sites include: Kalabougou, the pottery village, and Sékoro meaning “old-Ségou”, former capital of the Bambara kingdom. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 8 and 9: Festival On Niger
Two full days of festival activities: speakers, demonstrations, expositions, music, theater, traditional boat races, dance set right on the Niger River one of Africa's greatest rivers. The highlight will be the evening mega concerts with some of Mali and the continent’s biggest stars. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 10: Ségou-Bamako
Drive to Bamako after breakfast to relax or visit the city until it is time to transfer to the airport for your return flight. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Travel to Mali’s other architectural and cultural jewel, Djénné. Founded in the 4th century; Djénné has scarcely changed since the Middle Ages. The atmosphere in the streets transports you back to medieval times. Visit Djénné’s colorful and bustling Monday market and The Great Mosque, which is the world’s biggest mud edifice. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 7: Ségou
After breakfast, drive to Ségou, Mali's second largest city and former colonial capital. This drive takes you through various rural farming and fishing villages. Excursions to nearby cultural sites include: Kalabougou, the pottery village, and Sékoro meaning “old-Ségou”, former capital of the Bambara kingdom. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 8 and 9: Festival On Niger
Two full days of festival activities: speakers, demonstrations, expositions, music, theater, traditional boat races, dance set right on the Niger River one of Africa's greatest rivers. The highlight will be the evening mega concerts with some of Mali and the continent’s biggest stars. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 10: Ségou-Bamako
Drive to Bamako after breakfast to relax or visit the city until it is time to transfer to the airport for your return flight. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Additional information
How to get to us: Available airlines to Mali are Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Point Afrique Voyage
Services: We stay at 3 star hotels, guest houses, or campgrounds that provide excellent services to our guests. These facilities are well-maintained and offer great amenities such as internet and long distance calls, entertainment, etc.
Family friendly: Our tours are family-friendly! We are very good at being flexible and innovative to incorporate activities for all members of the group. Whether it is by inviting local children for an informal soccer or basketball match we make sure youth in our group are as excited as their parents.
How does this holiday make a difference?
We provide interesting inter-cultural exchanges based on mutual respect and understanding. We provide our tours in a manner that respect s local cultures and are not invasive to people’s day-day lives.
We urge all our guests to give the "gift of a lifetime" by planting at least one tree in one the communities we visit and that we set-up volunteering opportunities for our guests with organizations in need.
We invest as much as 20% of our profits to local NGO such ASE-Mali, and Village D’Enfant SOS. We bring school and medical supplies to village schools during our visits.
We support community-based organizations promoting health and environmental protection such as Mali Health Organization, and Ecova-Mali.
Where is it?
How to get to us: Available airlines to Mali are Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Point Afrique Voyage
Services: We stay at 3 star hotels, guest houses, or campgrounds that provide excellent services to our guests. These facilities are well-maintained and offer great amenities such as internet and long distance calls, entertainment, etc.
Family friendly: Our tours are family-friendly! We are very good at being flexible and innovative to incorporate activities for all members of the group. Whether it is by inviting local children for an informal soccer or basketball match we make sure youth in our group are as excited as their parents.
How does this holiday make a difference?
We provide interesting inter-cultural exchanges based on mutual respect and understanding. We provide our tours in a manner that respect s local cultures and are not invasive to people’s day-day lives.
We urge all our guests to give the "gift of a lifetime" by planting at least one tree in one the communities we visit and that we set-up volunteering opportunities for our guests with organizations in need.
We invest as much as 20% of our profits to local NGO such ASE-Mali, and Village D’Enfant SOS. We bring school and medical supplies to village schools during our visits.
We support community-based organizations promoting health and environmental protection such as Mali Health Organization, and Ecova-Mali.
Where is it?
Click here to enquire about or book this holiday!
To discover other Responsible Tourism projects, click here.
To discover more about Mali, click here.
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