Salt Caravans

Like a vestige from another age, Salt Caravans still travel between Timbuktu and Taoudenni. The return trip takes between 36 and 40 days. Trucks also make the journey - a fact which is lengthening the expedition for those who travel by camel, as the trucks sometimes exhaust salt supplies at the mines for a few days. But with fuel costs high and camels costing very little, it is extremely unlikely that the camels will be replaced by four-wheeled transport any time soon.

These are commercial operations and trips are extremely gruelling; they're not to be taken lightly - there's no escape if you find you can't hack it or get sick. Expect to spend between 15 and 18 hours a day on the move, with no rest days, and often with just four hours' sleep a night. The food can be pretty grim (dates, peanuts, dried goat meat and rice if you're lucky) and not always sufficient to keep hunger at bay. Most meals are taken on the move.

The trip fee gets you a guide, food and three camels. Guides are essential even if you travel with a caravan - many guides will try to get you to leave the caravan behind to speed things up, so insist before leaving if you want the caravan experience all the way to Taoudenni. Many guides and camel drivers speak only Hasaniya, a Moorish dialect of Arabic, and interpreters cost extra.

November and December are the ideal months to travel - the desert is not too hot and the harmattan has not begun. Sand storms are a problem in January and February.

For an evocative account of the journey and of the salt mines themselves, read Men of Salt: Across the Sahara with the Caravan of White Gold, by Michael Benanav.