Mali Vacations, Mali Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Welcome to the tourism and vacations guide for Mali. Browse Mali travel photos, Mali travel partners, Mali travel blogs, and Mali hotel reviews to plan your next trip. TravBuddy vacation reviews and tourism information are contributed by millions of fellow travelers, providing you with an unbiased perspective of Mali.

Mali, officially known as the République du Mali is one of West Africa’s biggest countries. Mali won independence from French colonization in 1960 and has since struggled as one of the poorest countries in the world despite efforts to revitalize the economy. Bamako is Mali's capital to the south but another oft-talked about place is Timbuktu in northern Mali. Both Timbuktu and Djenné were major trading centers in Mali and today are popular destinations for the adventurous. Mali is also a great place if you like music. Many Malian musicians are world-renowned and music from the region influences the surrounding areas as well as the world.

The northern half of Mali is nearly all Saharan desert. By contrast, in the south there is usually enough rainfall to grow crops without irrigation. In between these two areas is a wide belt of semi-desert, called the Sahel, and growing food there depends on the flooding of the Niger River. The Niger River, one of the great rivers of Africa, is Mali’s most prominent geographical feature. People depend on it for everything from food to transport.

The largest ethnic group in Mali is the Bambara (or Bamana). Other groups include the Dogons and Tuareg people among a wide array of other ethnicities. Mali’s official language is French, but the most widely spoken is Bambara, which is used as a common language by people from different ethnic groups. Some of this info is from Oxfam's Cool Planet site at www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet

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