Frail Dream of Timbuktu

In one of her most exotic and physically challenging journeys, Bettina Selby set out to explore the land of ancient African empires along the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert. Following the strange course of the River Niger - from time immemorial an uncharted royal road barred to white men - Bettina reaches the fabled city of Timbuktu and travels on to Djenne and Segou, revealing a lost world of cites founded centuries ago on the rich profits from trade in gold, spices, salt and slaves. For all its fascination it was a desperately hard land to travel through and even an all-terrain bicycle was not always equal to to the desert conditions. Nothing if not flexible, Bettina resorted to pirogue, camel and bush taxi to reach some of her goals