It wasn’t until I was in West Africa, 3 years into a global escapade with the family that I learned TIMBUKTU was actually a real place that existed in the far, sandy reaches of Mali (a country I had previously never known existed).

Full of adventure and new friends along the way, we entered from Mauritania and travelled from the capital city of Bamako to Djenne where we saw the worlds largest mud structure, we also camped out on a local ferry up the Niger River to the banks that took us to the infamous Timbuktu.

I was most surprised by the lack of any kind of souvenir in the town of Timbuktu. Surely a town with such a famous name would have trinkets and funny T-shirts and postcards. Right? Wrong! (though we did manage to find shirts on our way out of town the last day) They don’t call it Timbuktu for nothing. It really is as barren and “out there” as you can imagine.

Mali was a wonderful and memorable experience.

Stay tuned for more #FridayFotos. Next week is Malta.

View more photos of  Mali here..

For more of my travel photography, find me on Instagram. See you there!

Savannah Grace