Best 9 things to do in Mali

Last updated August 23rd, 2023.

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While the archetypical image of Mali may be of wandering Tuareg camel caravans in the desert dunes, there’s far more to the country. Let’s take a look at the best 9 things to do in Mali.

Arching across the western Sahel and into the Sahara Desert, Mali is the eighth largest country in Africa.

It takes its name from a medieval empire of such staggering power that rumours of its wealth circulated Europe for centuries. Financially and culturally rich, its kings ruled an area twice the size of France, Mali’s former colonial power.

Its treasures include the libraries of Timbuktu. Their papers record the Earth going around the sun long before the west cottoned on to the fact. But Mali’s wonders also include national parks, the Niger River, and no shortage of ancient towns. Here are the sights you shouldn’t miss on any trip to Mali.

1. Mudbrick mosque at Djenné

This otherwise small city of 35,000 people wouldn’t attract much attention if it wasn’t for its Grand Mosque.

But for centuries Djenné sat on an important trans-Saharan trade route, off the back of which the town became wealthy. Becoming a major centre of Islamic study, this led to the creation of the world’s largest mudbrick mosque.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site rises several stories over the surrounding landscape. Lauded throughout the world as an exquisite example of its form, the current mosque design dates from 1907.

However, it is just the last in a series of structures that stretch right back to the Mali Empire. This reached its heyday with Mansa Musa in the early 1300s, calculated to have been the richest man who ever lived. Beat that Elon.

You can ask, but generally speaking it’s unlikely you’ll be allowed inside the mosque, so visits are strictly reserved for its mighty exterior.

2. National Museum of Mali

The National Museum of Mali is located in the country’s capital, Bamako. Rated as one of the best museums in Africa, its permanent collection details the culture of the country’s many ethnic groups. These include the Tuareg, Fula, and Dogon, alongside the Bambara, Marka, and Bobo.

Musical instruments form a significant part of what’s on display, as do traditional textiles. In the grounds, visitors will also find models of some of the country’s most important structures.

Temporary exhibitions include the biennial exhibition of images from the African Photography Encounters project. So keep an eye out for that too.

3. Baoul National Park

Also known as Boucle de Baoulé, this national park in western Mali isn’t, in fact, known for its wildlife. Instead, the primary reason to visit is to explore its prehistoric tombs and rock art.

That said, the park does maintain healthy populations of various evocative species, not least highly endangered chimpanzees. Elephants, lions, and hyenas also inhabit the park’s bounds.

Keen to secure the future of these wonderful creatures, Bafing National Park was created in the year 2000. Further west still, it was specifically created to help protect the chimpanzee population that has lived here for millennia.

4. Timbuktu

A byword for mysterious lands far away, Timbuktu is not the fabled land of gold it was once thought. A handful of visitors are even disappointed by the ‘ordinary’ look of today’s city.

Still a hard slog to get to, Timbuktu remains an impressive city all the same. You just need to look beyond its street level appearance.

Do that, and you’ll soon fall for the charms of its three historic mosques: Djingareyber, Sidi Yahia, and Sankore. Like Djenné they are staggering examples of adobe architecture and date back centuries.

The city is also known for its libraries, of which around 60 remain in existence. Together, they look after approximately 700,000 manuscripts, some hundreds of years old. The dedication of generations of librarians have ensured they have survived floods, fires, and civil strife.

5. Dogon Country

If Timbuktu is the most mysterious city in Mali, the Dogon must be the most shadowy of all its tribes.

Fiercely resistant to conversion to Islam, the Dogon are animists who sought refuge amid the rocky Bandiagara Escarpment. A cliff edge stretching for roughly 100 miles, it is dotted with Dogon villages which almost disappear into the landscape.

Villages can be recognised by their tall granaries topped with a roof of thatch, and their Tellem houses. These sit within the cliffs and have been used as burial chambers for centuries.

Take a trip to Dogon Country and you’ll be entering territory which has fascinated outsiders for at least a century. Its not only rich in the tribe’s unique culture, but also fascinating carvings and society.

6. Mount Hombori

There is an elegance to Mount Hombori that perhaps comes from its isolation – within the desert outside any major mountain range. There is also something of Cape Town’s Table Mountain to its appearance.

Lying within reach of the city of Mopti, Mount Hombori, or Hombori Tondo, is Mali’s highest point. Its difficult to speak of it as a peak because of its flat summit.

Coincidentally, it is also almost exactly the same height as Table Mountain, at 1,155 metres above sea level.

Inhabited for at least two thousand years, it’s one of the most biologically diverse areas of the country. Around 150 different species of plant call it their home, along with rock hyrax, and olive baboon.

Reaching the top doesn’t need ropes, but does require some scrambling. You’ll also need the permission of the local chief, who will then give you a guide – usually a child from a local village.

But all this is worth it to take in the landscapes, spend time with your guide, and tick off one of Mali’s top things to do.

7. Gao

Though rarely heard of outside of Mali, Gao in the southeast of the country can be thought of as the twin of Timbuktu. It too was a major trading post during medieval times capable of rivalling any European city.

It means Gao has some extraordinary relics from this time, such as the pyramid-like Tomb of Askia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Made of mud supported by a scaffold of sticks, it’s thought to be the burial place of Askia Mohammed I. He was a major leader of the Songhai Empire, which came after the Mali Empire.

Elsewhere in the city, you’ll find the Museum of the Sahel. The waters of the River Niger flow to the west of the city too.

8. Ségou Koro

Ségou Koro, or Old Ségou, is an attractive riverside village today. It’s the sort of place where the chief is as important as he has ever been.

In the eighteenth century, Ségou Koro was the capital of yet another empire that developed in the region. It was called the Bambara Empire.

It was led for a part of its history by Biton Mamary Coulibaly, whose traditionally-styled grave is an important relic. The village also has a couple of interesting historic mosques.

Nearby Ségou is known of as the centre of the country’s pottery industry. Its women take clay from the banks of the Niger and shape them without the benefit of a pottery wheel. Did someone say souvenir?

9. Mopti

If you can’t make it to Djenné, Mopti is an epically-good alternative. Located relatively centrally within the country, it also boasts a monolithic mud-built Grand Mosque.

Dating from the same period as that in Djenné, the Grand Mosque is also known as the Komoguel Mosque. And for anyone who doubts its architectural impressiveness, its 2.5-metre-high walls hardly even mask this astonishing edifice of dried mud and wooden scaffolding.

When backed by a blue sky, the banco-covered mud edifice is hard to turn from. Head to its surrounds on a Friday to see it at its most colourful.

Best 9 things to do in Mali

Mali’s location within the expanses of the Sahara Desert might look unpromising. However, the presence of the River Niger acts as a lifeblood that have brought empires to the region long before colonial times. They left behind them a series of relics well worth the rough roads and basic accommodation. If you’re planning a trip to Mali, be sure to also take in natural wonders like Mount Hombori and Baoul National Park.