Timbuktu two
You may remember an early post mentioning the Festival au Desert, a music festival near Timbuktu. A place of camel caravans, music and Tuaregs – sigh. But I digress. Here’s another side to Timbuktu where hard work and tradition rmerge in the salt mines.
I travel there in spirit via this essay written by Lorenzo Serafini, winner of a travel writing competition sponsored by the UK newspaper, Telegraph. He takes us to the salt mines near Timbuktu. His short tale describes a place that holds centuries of history – a journey repeated year after year: an encampment of men digging for salt to market.
It begins, “Amadou shows me his sandals, he cut them from a lorry tyre…” Read on.
