Mali is known, if it is known at all, for being one of the world's poorest and most inhospitable countries. The West African country, roughly ...

Timbuktu is in Mali, a West African country bordered by seven others, including Algeria, Niger and Senegal. Unless you fly from the capital of Bamako, ...

Timbuktu — the forbidden city in the heart of Africa. It was founded in 1080. And within 300 years, it had already become one of the era’s most important trading points, ...

Timbuktu – the forbidden city in the heart of Africa. It was founded in 1080. And within 300 years, it had become one of the era’s most important trading points, ...

The mystery of Timbuktu was compelling, and my fear added an evocative excitement to the mix.There is only one flight a week from Paris to Mopti, in the Malian outback. The charter delivers a fresh ...

Foreign Policy: Timbuktu, Lost City Foreign Policy's Peter Chilson gives a short history of the ancient, iconic Malian city and explains why it now faces imminent destruction. Opinion ...

Yet Timbuktu's isolation has become a bit less oppressive. Ikatel, a private cellular phone network, came to town two years ago, as their ubiquitous billboards and phone-card booths testify.

Timbuktu was once the center of a vibrant trans-Saharan network, where traders swapped not only slaves, salt, gold, and silk, but also manuscripts—scientific, artistic, and religious masterworks ...

I write this on a small 12-seater plane as we head to Timbuktu. “Head” that way, that is, slowly. This plane goes where it goes and where it’s needed and we go with it.