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"TO
TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT.
A JOURNEY THROUGH WEST AFRICA"
by
Rick Antonson
-2.jpg) Author
and tourism executive, Rick Antonson, sets out on an
unforgettable journey to Africa, and chronicles his
adventures in TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT: A Journey Through
West Africa,, published
by Dundurn Press on June 7, 2008.
"To
Timbuktu for a Haircut is a great read - a little bit of
Bill Bryson, a little bit of Michael Palin, and quite a lot
of Bob Hope on the road to Timbuktu." &endash; Professor
Geoffrey Lipman, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations
World Tourism Organization.
Historically
rich, remote, and once unimaginably dangerous for
travellers, Timbuktu still teases with "Find me if you
can." Rick Antonson's encounters with entertaining
train companions Ebou and Ussegnou, a mysterious cook called
Nema, and intrepid guide Zak will make you want to pack up
and leave for Timbuktu tomorrow.\
As
Antonson travels in Senegal and Mali by train, four-wheel
drive, river pinasse, camel, and foot, he tells of
fourteenth-century legends, eighteenth-century explorers,
and today's endangered existence of Timbuktu's 700,000
ancient manuscripts in what scholars have described as the
most important archaeological discovery since the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
TO
TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT combines wry humour with shrewd
observation to deliver an armchair experience that will
linger in the mind long after the last page is
read.
"I
left Africa personally changed by the gentle harshness I
found and a disquieting splendour that found me. Mali
was the journey I needed, if not the one I envisioned.
And I learned that there's a little of Timbuktu in every
traveller: the over-anticipated experience, the clash of
dreams with reality." &endash; Rick Antonson
Rick
Antonson is the president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver and a
director of the Pacific Asia Travel Association. He
has had adventures in Tibet and Nepal, and in Libya and
North Korea, among others. The co-author of SLUMACH'S
GOLD: In Search of a Legend, he lives in Vancouver.
Timbuktu:
City of Mystery
Mariama
Ludovic
Salt comes from the north,
Gold comes from the south,
Money comes from the country of white people,
But the words of God, Knowledge,
Stories and nice folk tales,
Can only be found in Tombouctou"
There is
a Tuareg proverb which says,
"It
is better to see for oneself than to be informed by a third
person." On these words we will invite you to put Tombouctou
on the top of your twenty first century agenda. Located near
the river Niger and at the terminus of the great
trans-Saharan caravan route, Tombouctou became fabulously
wealthy in the 13th 15 centuries. Loaded with blocks of salt
and other trade goods huge convoys of camels would spend
weeks crossing the unforgiving Sahara to reach Timbuktu. It
was here that salt was traded pound for pound with African
merchants bringing gold and ivory along the Niger from the
heart of Africa.
At
its height in the 16th century, the city had 100.000
inhabitants and became not only a centre of commerce but
also an important seat of learning and religion. The city
was fiercely Islamic and the fact that non-Moslems were
totally banned from entering the city only added to its
mystique.
TIMBUKTU: THE PEARL OF
THE DESERT
(more
on next page)
Timbuktu was formerly a
great commercial trading city and an international center of
islamic learning. The city was probably founded in the late
11th century AD by Tuareg nomads. Timbuktu was a leading
terminus of trans-Saharan caravans and a distribution point
for trade along the upper Niger. Merchants from northern
African cities traded salt and cloth for gold and for black
African slaves in the markets of Timbuktu. The visitors will
discovered the ancient mosques including the famous Sankore
whose reputation spanned all across north Africa and Europe
as a leading islamic academy for centuries. Most of the
ancient books (some dating from the 14th century AD) are
still preserved at the Ahmed Baba Center . Tuareg formed one
of the most ancient tribal people of the Sahara. They speak
a Berber language, Tamacheq, and have their own alphabet. In
ancient times, the Tuareg controlled the trans-Sahara routes
and substantially contributed in the expansion of Islam in
sub-Saharan Africa even though they retained however some of
their older rites. Today, the Tuareg symbolize the mysteries
of the Sahara and continued to be seen as the Masters of the
Desert.
Photo
Credits: Mariama Ludovic, Westair. Bamako, Mali
Mariama Ludovic de
Lys, Director
Company name : West Africa Tours
email :
westair@afribone.net.ml /mariamaludovic@yahoo.com
tel : 223 228 8157 /fax : 223 228 52 32, BP E 1642, Bamako
/Mali
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Introduction
by Jerry W. Bird, Africa Travel Magazine
Editor