Two days out of Bamako, we reached Timbuktu. The last eight hours were by unpaved track, ending at the Niger river. We crossed the river by plowing through ponds of shallow water. At times the water crested over the hood of our Land Cruiser. The final stretch was by a ferry and then six miles of paved road into town. By then it was getting dark and it was easy to feel why Timbuktu is considered one of the most exotic and remote big-little cities on earth. 
In the 15th century, Timbuktu was a center of trade and learning and had a population of 100,000. After being captured by Morocco in 1591, draught, famine, and wars caused the city to decline. Today about 20,000 people live there.
Visiting Timbuktu has always been problematic. The first European to visit Timbuktu, in 1826, was killed. Rene Caillie, a Frechman disguised as an Arab, was the first to survive a visit, in 1828. Today, most people arrive by water or camel. As 
recently as two years ago, warring tribes made overland travel to Timbuktu inadvisable.
Europeans were first attracted by rumors of gold; today's visitors are attracted by the city's romoteness. Although we were prepared for this to be just a "been-there, done-that" kind of visit, we found the city to be rich in culture and history, and to be wonderfully picturesque.
T
here are few cars in Timbuktu. People walk in roads that are deep in sand; all buildings are made of mud. Behive-shaped communal ovens for bread baking are scattered throughout the lanes. At night, as we walked among the streets we could smell dinner cooking and overhear quiet conversations. The only light came from the homes--soft light through shaded windows and streaks of light from cracks in the doors. At the end of some streets, the dunes of the Sahara were visible in the moon and starlight.
The largest mosque in Timbuktu is the Djinguereber Mosque. Like other earthen mosques in Mali, the walls are interlaced with a wooden framework, which aids annual repairs after the rainy season.
We visited the interior of the mosque in the morning and then returned at 2:00, to observe the comings and goings related to the weekly service, which happened to be that day. For all practical purposes, only men attend the services. There is a section of the mosque off to the side of the main room for women, but its very small as only a few women qualify for attendance due to strict rules pertaining to devotion, age, and child bearing
We took a camel ride at dusk to see a nearby nomad village of the Tuareg people. They still travel many days from the north, across the Sahara, to trade in Timbuktu.
Timbuktu