Avoid all travel to Mali, including the capital, Bamako, due to the threat of terrorism, kidnapping and banditry. 
 

Canadian travel advisory 2025​

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It was dark as we drove from the airport to the city. Other than the occasional person or roadside stand, there was little to see. The air was filled with the scent of smoke from wood fires used for cooking.

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Mali was largely peaceful in the winter of 1991. The country was transforming from military rule to democracy.  A new constitution would be adopted and multi-party elections would be held the following year.

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We were able to travel freely, including to Mopti, Djenne and the falaises where the Dogon people live. We heeded the travel warnings about Timbuktu, the renowned city of Islamic learning on the edge of the Sahara Desert where there were conflicts between Tuareg separatists in the north and other communities to the south.

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I was struck by the beauty of Djenne, a city on an island in the Bani river where all of the buildings including the mosque are made of mud brick. And the Dogon area, with its houses and granaries built into cliffs, is one of few places where I have felt like I was as far away from western civilization as I had ever been.

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These photographs provide a glimpse of Mali at a time of historic change.