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Article: White gold of the Sahara: salt from the Taoudenni mines the northernmost tip of Mali is still carried across the desert to Timbuktu by camels. It's a gruelling journey, but that didn't stop John Pilkington from experiencing it for himself.(SAHARA SALT MINES)
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- May 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Circle Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Five hundred years ago, Saharan salt was literally worth its weight in gold, so the deposits at Taoudenni, in what is now the northernmost tip of Mali, must have been quite a find.
Camel caravans still make the 700-kilometre journey between the Taoudenni salt mines and Timbuktu--every week between November and February, caravans of tip to SO camels set out from Timbuktu. For the return journey, each camel is loaded with four slabs of salt, the so-called 'white gold' of the Sahara.
At the beginning of last year, I arrived in Timbuktu and started looking for a guide and camels. This proved surprisingly easy--Timbuktu is that sort of place--and within a ...