MALI

June 2010

Western hostages grabbed in Mali and neighbouring contries are currently held in Mali, east of the Tanezrouft piste between Tessalit and Gao. It's best to avoid this route. See this map.

Malian CFA XOF exchange rates

Price of fuel
Diesel from around 585- CFA/litre - more in remote towns. Petrol is 695CFA.

Costs
More than you think

Useful languages
French, Arabic

Visas
Needed by all except French. No consulate in UK - nearest are 487 ave. Moliere, Bruxelles or Consulat du Mali 64 rue Pelleport, 75020 Paris, 75020, Paris (visa took 30 mins in February, 2010) See this post. Download visa forms below. It can take up to 2-3 days from when they get it.

Other Mali embassies.
Useful visa agency in Bruxelles (up to half the price of Brit agencies) .

The Mali consulate in Rabat (Morocco).
7, Rue Thami Lamdaouar
Rabat-Souissi
GPS N33 58.7' W06 50.0'
a few doors down from the Mauritanian embassy

There is also a Mali consulate in Nouakchott
Ave de Palais des Congres
N18°06.48' W15°58.73'
Two photos and photo copy of passport, 6500UM. Visas issued in as little as an hour.

And a consulate in Tamanrasset, Algeria, next to the Niger consulate, High Street south end (look for the flag as on the top of this page). Here they issue a 5-day pass in a day or so. You then get a proper visa in Gao, 600kms south of Tessalit where you check in to Mali. See more below.

From Mali northwards into Mauritania
One reads in Jan 2009: ... at Nioro they are no longer issuing visas at the border... you can get a visa at Bamako near the Chinese Embassy on Rue Kolikoro. You need 4 photos; ready next day for 20,000 CFA.
But, March 2009: "...we got turned back trying to enter Mauretania at Nioro ... we tried Kayes - Kiffa [to the west] no problems."

From Mauritania - the way most people arrive overland these days - you can pick up a Mali visa in Rabat (see above) Nouakchott while you wait for 6500 oogs for 1 month (8000 for double entry and 10,000 for 2 months double entry. 2 photos required). Or simply turn up at the border from Ayoun el Atrous at Diandioume (the road south to Nioro), where a Mali visa costs 15000 CFA or 25 euros and is valid for a month, (the exact price and duration may vary).

A Yellow Fever ticket is required.

Border formalities
Buy laissez-passer (local 'carnet') and insurance (both cover the whole CFA currency zone).

Desert pistes: although getting to Timbuktu remains a popular goal, exploring the Sahara is not Mali's highlight as few tracks reach into the desert and there is not much there. The 1000-mile trans-Saharan Tanezrouft piste, leading up to Reggane in Algeria is paralleled by smugglers and these days tourists do it very occasionally. Getting beyond Araouane, north of Timbuktu to the desolate salt mines at Taoudenni can be difficult without a good reason.

The Kidal region (Adrar des Iforhas) is not the safest but only because there are people there. The Taoudenni basin to the west might have worse consequences but no one goes there that you would want to meet.
In November 2006 we drove directly across northern Mali off-piste from Atar in Mauritania more or less along 20N. A truck that came a 1000kms from north of Tessalit was robbed twice on the way. In 2008 outright fighting with the Malian army had got much worse and in 2009 a British hostage was killed (3 others were released for ransoms).

The piste (or route) reaching west of Timbuktu to Nema via Bassikounou appears to be open though one hears Mauritanian police and customs won't stamp you out (so just leave) while east from Timbuktu, the 300km track to Bourem and Gao is twin sandy ruts through scraggy bushland, dunes and riverside villages - you'll need 4WD or an agile motorbike.