Mali travel guide

Mali's third largest town is known for its artisans. Especially the pottery that is shipped to town from the surrounding villages are sought after by the rest of the country. Truthsayers claim there's something in the earth here – sceptics would retort that it's simply a matter of the clay being of a superior quality. Other treats to look for in Ségou include bogalan (mud cloth), koras (traditional Malian string instruments), and traditional medicine as the Marabouts (medicine men) of Ségou should be particularly powerful. If you happen to be around in the first week of February stop by for Le Festival sur le Niger, which focuses on the river environment and its peoples' livelihood. It features concerts, films, theatre and dance performances.

Throughout Mali's history, an endless array of small kingdoms have risen and fallen. The Bamana Kingdom of Ségou rose in the 18th century a little down the road from the modern town. Ségoukoro – Old Ségou – was the original seat of power and is one of the best places in Mali to see the remnants of these kingdoms. The old castle has been restored; so has the tomb of the kingdom's founder, Kaladjan Coulibaly. His descendants still rule as the village's chiefs and live in a likewise renovated house nearby the castle. As an additional bonus to its history is Ségoukoro also a study in Saharan mosque designs. The town has four mosques: One predates Islam's arrival in the region and was probably build by a wealthy Moroccan merchant passing through. The second is a dome mosque build in mud, like the ones in Timbuktu and Gao. Finally, the last two are of Sudanese design, found all over the Sahel.

Historically, present-day Mali has been home to countless of empires and smaller kingdoms. These kingdoms were usually centred around ethnic groups, and through the decades these developed their own unique architectural styles. For today's visitor, that means plenty of different styles and types of traditional houses – known as Banco houses – can be found all over Mali. The common factor is the building material. The houses are almost always made of mud. The exception is the houses on top of the rocky Bandiagaraa Escarpment, which are made of rocks. In Ségou, the houses are orange and one storey. In Djenné they are more greyish, with impressive front designs and in two stories. In the northern desert, it’s possible to find a range of different designs in Timbuktu. You get the idea. Any history-, architecture- or mud-buffs will have a field-day visiting Mali.

Inspired by the Mande-speaking tribes in Mali and the countries to its south-east, Manding Music dominates the traditional music scene in Mali. Mostly free of Western influence the music is played solely on local instruments, most famously the Kora – a 21- to 25-string harp-lute. Traditionally, individual families in Mali have been given the responsibility of Malian music. Known as Jelis these bard-families passed the music tradition down through their families to preserve oral history, play at ceremonies, and praise the noble and the wealthy. Today, with corruption running amok, the latter use have profoundly been changed, and music is now a means of criticism of the political establishment. Even the smallest village have their Jeli family, and it's easy to find masters willing to teach you to play the traditional instruments. Instruments that are easy-to-learn, but difficult-to-master.