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The Sahara Desert, Mali,
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home to one of Earth's most mysterious and legendary places.
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Africa's fabled city of gold, Timbuktu.
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My name's Alice Morrison.
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I'm an Arabist and explorer.
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I live in Morocco,
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and since childhood I've dreamt of making the gruelling journey
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across the Sahara to see this ancient city
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before it's lost forever to sand and war.
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I love touching history.
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In this series I'll trek 2,000 miles following ancient trade routes,
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often known as salt roads, across some of the world's most hostile lands.
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Timbuktu is at the centre of all these trade routes
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and I want to follow them and find it and see what's there.
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I'll pass through some magical places that time has barely touched.
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Oh, wow!
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Relying on the hospitality of Berber nomads.
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THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
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He's just cutting up the heart.
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And I'll come face-to-face with some frightening modern-day realities.
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I'm beginning to feel quite nervous.
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Travelling deep beneath the veil
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into the heart of ancient and modern North Africa
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I'll discover its incredible forgotten history
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en route to the legendary city of gold, Timbuktu.
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I've already trekked 800 miles
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from the top of Morocco
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to the edge of the Sahara Desert.
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Scaling the high Atlas and Jbel Saghro mountains
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to reach the market town of Rissani.
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Along the way I've experienced first-hand how tough the journey was
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for the traders who used these often dangerous routes
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to transport their goods.
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But it's still more than 1,000 miles to Timbuktu
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and it's about to get tougher.
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- Hafida.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- How are you?
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I'm meeting up with Hafida Hdoubane,
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Morocco's first-ever female trekking guide.
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She's stocking up on provisions for the desert.
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Take this. Taste it, see if it's OK.
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- Delicious, yeah.
- That's nice?
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I think the best one is that so I will take from there.
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Her expertise is going to help me on what was the most perilous part
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of the traders' journey.
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The Sahara, the deadliest of deserts.
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It spans 11 countries, a vast area of more than 3 million square miles.
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It can reach staggering temperatures of 50 degrees plus,
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but this morning at the Chebbi dunes it's a little chilly.
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Our mode of transport is authentic trans-Saharan.
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Hafida and I will be making this trip, like so many before us, by camel.
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THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
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Ben Didi and Hussain are going to help us steer these ships of the desert.
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Maybe now is not the time to say, "I'm not that keen on camels."
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They bite, they spit.
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Which camel is the nicest camel?
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Getting on is the nerve-racking bit for me.
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Apparently God designed the camel with the desert in mind,
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so I hope He's a good designer.
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The camel's mentioned in seven verses of the Quran
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and they're known for their cunning, their sense of direction,
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their intelligence, and slightly worrying for me,
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apparently they're very vengeful
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if you are a cruel or intolerant master or mistress.
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For the traders of old it was a 50-day journey,
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across the seemingly endless sands of the Sahara,
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all the way to Timbuktu.
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They were following routes forged on trade in two precious commodities,
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gold and salt, and it must have been a magnificent sight
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as caravans, often made up of 1,000 camels or more,
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filed across the desert in pursuit of riches.
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You can't walk in this desert without falling in love with it.
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It's such an incredibly beautiful landscape,
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but it was incredibly perilous.
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Probably the most dangerous stage of the journey.
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Bandits all around here ready to rob the caravans,
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water was in incredibly short supply
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and people did die of thirst all the time.
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So, even though for me it's so romantic walking through the dunes
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as the sun sets, as the sky looks all blue,
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but actually, when you did it for real, this is why the goods,
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when they got to the other end, cost so much - it was the danger factor.
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But in the scorching heat of the desert,
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one thing was more valuable than anything else they were carrying -
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water.
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Many travellers met their death in the sand,
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as the great medieval adventurer, Ibn Battuta recounts...
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"We passed a caravan on the way
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"and they told us that some of their party
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"had become separated from them.
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"We found one of them dead under a shrub
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"with his clothes on and a whip in his hand.
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"The water was only about a mile from him."
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As dusk approaches, we find a sheltered spot
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to make camp before nightfall.
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I'm descending to bribery to keep Hamoun, my camel, sweet.
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I've broken out the dates.
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We bought these dates for ourselves, but I think Hamoun deserves them
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more than I did, cos he did all the work today.
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At this time of year,
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the temperature often plummets to below freezing.
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Wood for the fire would have been an essential part
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of the caravan's huge cargo.
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HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
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By the fire we swap stories.
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Hafida is a rare creature, a female guide in an all-male profession.
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But what she tells me about her extraordinary family history is shocking.
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So, my great-grandfather,
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they gave him a gift, like a woman, from Ethiopia because she's...
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she's a slave and he married her.
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And she gives him a boy, it was my grandfather.
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What happened to your grandfather?
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My grandfather, he was born a slave,
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so he married my grandmother that is a slave also.
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So, my father, he is a slave too.
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To me, it's incredible that he could be born a slave in modern Morocco.
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Yeah, we don't really speak about slaves in Morocco.
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It's a bit, um, what we say, taboo.
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Because, it's a suffering history, but it exists.
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It wasn't very far away, just 20th century.
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An estimated 13 million slaves were transported north across the Sahara,
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a similar number to those shipped to America.
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To this day, slavery has never officially been abolished in Morocco.
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I'm proud of it.
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Me, I'm born also from this slave's family.
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This country is like a mosaic.
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We have black, we have white, we have Arab, we have Berber,
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we have Jewish, we have a lot of...
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faces, a lot of tradition,
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a lot of culture, and that makes this country very rich.
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I'm humbled by Hafida's story.
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In Morocco there are whole villages of people descended from the slaves
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who were forced along the salt roads from West Africa.
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The country's culture has been enriched
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by the traditions they brought with them.
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This is so magical.
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I just woke up.
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It's still the middle of the night, but I woke up,
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and I looked up and I can see the Milky Way,
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and I can also see the Plough, absolutely clear.
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A most beautiful night.
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We get up with the dawn
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like the traders who had to beat the heat of the day.
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I feel like I'm getting a taste of what life would have been like.
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Quite difficult days,
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difficult on the body,
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having to trust yourself to somebody else completely
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because you don't know the way.
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Moments of huge beauty in the desert
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because it is stunning, the landscape.
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And then night-time,
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food, hot tea and the time to just socialise with everyone around you.
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Just after sunrise we're back out in the desert again and heading south.
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We have 15 miles to cover today,
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which should take our camels about five hours.
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In the past, caravans would be guided by highly paid Berbers
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who navigated by the sun, the stars, and the shape of the dunes,
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and acted as security to keep the merchants safe from raiders.
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Climbing to the top of one of the highest dunes,
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the view across the desert stretches all the way to Algeria.
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This is the border between Morocco and Algeria.
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- Yeah.
- And it's, like, 1,500 kilometres.
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- Wow!
- Yeah.
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And how far away is it from here?
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It's like 60km from here.
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Morocco's border with Algeria has been closed since 1994
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after a terrorist attack in Marrakech
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brought relations between the two to an all-time low.
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It's said to cost the Moroccan economy
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2 billion a year in lost trade.
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It also means I can't go any further along this particular trade route.
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But the network of routes was extensive
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so there are other possibilities.
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Hafida's made it quite clear that the Algerian border
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is completely shut and no longer an option.
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That southern route was a quick way down, was the fastest way down,
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but there is also a western route, which, although it's slower,
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was in fact safer because there were more places to provision
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along the way, it was more populated.
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So that seems the logical way to try next.
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Taking the road west means saying goodbye to Hafida,
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and my now-beloved camel, Hamoun.
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I'm driving towards the city of Guelmim.
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This particular route came to prominence in the 18th century
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when Guelmim became one of
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the biggest trading crossroads in North Africa.
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I'm skirting across the northern edge of the Sahara
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and making a stop in a desert town called Tamegroute
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because I've heard it holds a secret treasure.
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This sign in Arabic says...
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SHE SPEAKS ARABIC
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Which means a treasury or a treasure trove of books.
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Very surprising to find that here in such a small remote place.
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This sanctuary is a Zaouia, a centre of Islamic learning,
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which houses a library of 4,000 ancient books.
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Its custodian is 89-year-old Hajj Khalifa El Fasi.
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His family have handed down this job from father to son
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since it was founded in the 11th century.
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Now his son, Rashid, works alongside him.
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This Malian scholar left behind rare manuscripts,
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which, as an Arabist, I'm dying to get my hands on.
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How exciting that these roads I've been travelling were on a kind of
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medieval information highway and knowledge network.
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I almost, but not quite, got to touch 400 years of history.
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That book in the library is absolute evidence that the trade routes
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between sub-Saharan Africa and this area of north Africa
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brought knowledge and learning, as well as just gold and salt.
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And that knowledge made its way across the water to Europe
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where ideas from Muslim scholars on subjects like philosophy,
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science and mathematics informed the European Renaissance.
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A 350-mile bus journey brings me to the market town of Guelmim.
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It's nicknamed Bab Sahara, gateway to the desert.
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In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was known for its huge camel market,
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the medieval equivalent of a massive car showroom full of four-by-fours.
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I want to see if any of that trade survives.
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This is a fantastic livestock market, full of noise and colour
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and smell.
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But, actually, I'm looking for camels because it used to be
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the biggest camel market in the whole of north-west Africa
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and I haven't seen any yet.
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I'm imagining this market in the days of trans-Saharan trade,
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bustling with merchants bartering for camels by the hundred.
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Eventually, I find a small collection of them in a corner.
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Today, the trade is very different.
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THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAE
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So times have really changed.
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In days of old, this was the place to buy your camel
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and to refuel your camel for the trek across the Sahara,
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or from the Sahara up to the north.
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But now these camels are actually used for food
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and we've just been told
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that one camel can feed up to 300 people for a party.
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So that's mainly what people come and buy them for now.
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Ahmed al Ansari's family has been in the business for generations.
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If anyone knows the going rate for a camel, it's him.
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It depends. It depends on the camel.
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If the camel is very strong...
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- Yes.
- ..the price is like that.
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If the camel is not strong, the camel is down.
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Sometimes you can find a camel and it's 20,000 dirhams.
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But it's very, very big, you know?
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It's enough for 500, 600 persons.
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20,000 dirhams is £1,500.
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After my trip across the desert on Hamoun,
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it seems like a bargain to me.
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And it's easy to imagine
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why a strong camel was an asset for Saharan traders
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when they might carry loads of up to 200 kilos.
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00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:22,520
Apparently, the white camel is called the president of the caravan
249
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,600
because it can sniff out water.
250
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,200
So they used to send it ahead to find where the water was in the desert
251
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:29,480
and it was highly valued.
252
00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,720
The days of camel caravans are clearly over,
253
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,680
so I'm making the next leg of my journey by car.
254
00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,880
I'm going south towards the town of Zag, 115 miles away.
255
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,080
There's a military checkpoint at the entrance to the town
256
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,680
and people in Guelmim have told me I'm unlikely to get through.
257
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,320
I'm about 25km outside of Zag on the western route
258
00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,120
that the merchants followed towards Timbuktu.
259
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,000
The issue here is, of course,
260
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,320
that the borders have changed since those times
261
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,000
and political and social tensions here are quite high.
262
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:16,760
Zag is the last town before the border with Western Sahara.
263
00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,040
A territory that's been disputed by Morocco,
264
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,720
Mauritania, and the Sahrawi Berbers who have always lived there.
265
00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:28,800
When Morocco secured control of it in 1979,
266
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:33,080
they turned the area into a military zone and built a long sand berm
267
00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,880
to keep out local independence fighters.
268
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,920
I'm just getting everything ready. I've got my permit
269
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,040
and I've got the map to show them where I'm going at the checkpoint,
270
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:47,320
but I am really nervous that we're not going to get through.
271
00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,360
It's a military zone, there is a lot of tension over the Western Sahara
272
00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:53,520
and this really is one of the points
273
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,840
that I think could block our journey.
274
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:06,240
- Bonjour.
- Bonjour.
275
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,040
THEY SPEAK ARABIC
276
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,360
It turns out my worries were totally unfounded.
277
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,960
Instead of a show of military bravado,
278
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,040
I'm warmly welcomed and waved through the checkpoint and into Zag,
279
00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,880
a town straight out of a spaghetti Western.
280
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,080
Here, I want to find someone to take me on to the border,
281
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,680
but when I ask around, everyone says it's not possible to get there.
282
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,400
Finally, a local cloth trader, Mansour Hamadi,
283
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,160
agrees to take me down the road south of Zag towards the border.
284
00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,880
He used to travel it himself to buy fabrics in Mauritania.
285
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,520
But just four miles along the track, he stops the car.
286
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,400
This is as far as he is prepared to go.
287
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:13,400
The military presence doesn't bode well for my onward journey.
288
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,640
Mansour tells me there are thousands of unexploded mines
289
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,440
along both of these roads
290
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:16,560
and the conflict between the different factions is very much alive.
291
00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:21,160
This is extremely frustrating. This should be so simple.
292
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,920
I'm actually standing on a crossroads
293
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,200
for two roads that go to Timbuktu.
294
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,920
That one goes through Tindouf and this one goes through Mahbes.
295
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:33,480
But unlike the days of old,
296
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,320
when the merchants passed freely along these routes,
297
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,680
I can't go and the reason is there is a built-up military zone,
298
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,960
this area is under dispute, it is mined,
299
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,680
and there is absolutely no possibility for me to cross.
300
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,760
So, I'm stuck, I'm absolutely stuck here, there is nothing I can do.
301
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:58,000
I'm out of options.
302
00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,560
I can't follow the salt roads
303
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,160
through the closed border and a military zone.
304
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:07,200
So, to continue on my quest for Timbuktu, I have to fly 1,000 miles
305
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,160
over the no-go territory of Western Sahara and Mauritania
306
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,120
directly into Mali.
307
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:26,680
This is Bamako, the capital of Mali,
308
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:30,040
and one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.
309
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,520
Arriving here is an assault on the senses.
310
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,280
I feel like I've been parachuted into craziness.
311
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:45,000
I'm in the heart of West Africa and everything's going at ten times
312
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,840
the pace of normal. It's brighter, it's noisier,
313
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,680
I keep sneezing because of the chillies.
314
00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:53,760
What an incredible contrast to the sounds of the Sahara.
315
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,800
Just couldn't be more different.
316
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,680
We're still 700 miles from Timbuktu,
317
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,240
but I've spotted something in the market
318
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,760
that tells me I'm on the right track.
319
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:05,280
Timbuktu?
320
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,680
Everywhere I go, there are glimpses of Timbuktu luring me in.
321
00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:11,880
Here I've found this massive block of salt,
322
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,800
which must have come down from the north, through the city,
323
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,560
and all its way over here to Bamako.
324
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,400
I've found salt. Now I'm searching for
325
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,680
the other prized commodity of these trade routes - gold.
326
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,080
Mali is the third-largest producer in Africa,
327
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,960
yielding over 50 tonnes of gold a year.
328
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,560
In the Middle Ages, the great West African empires of Ghana,
329
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:40,480
Mali, and Songhai got rich from it.
330
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,920
Gold is still mined here and I'm keen to see a working mine
331
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,920
for myself and maybe do some prospecting.
332
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,720
So I'm making for Narena, 40 miles south-west of Bamako,
333
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,640
taking the local transport with some of the workers.
334
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,160
SHE SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE
335
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,160
It's a sociable ride and I learn a new phrase in Mandinka,
336
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:11,640
the local language.
337
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,200
SHE SPEAKS MADINKA
338
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,960
Slow down. It's getting a bit bumpy.
339
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,600
We're off-roading through the bush on the way to the gold mine.
340
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:34,000
We rattle to a halt at what I'm told is the mine.
341
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,680
I was expecting a modern, hi-tech operation,
342
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,720
but instead I'm greeted by the sight
343
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,320
of people busily wielding picks and shovels.
344
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,920
This is a community mine run by the local landowner.
345
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,040
You have to pay him a fee before you can mine here.
346
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,360
- Assalaamu Alaikum.
- Walaykum assalam.
347
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,520
I've brought him a traditional gift of kola nuts.
348
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,840
The Malian equivalent of a nice bottle of red.
349
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,160
SHE SPEAKS FRENCH
350
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:16,480
Keita has an entourage
351
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,680
who seem amused by my eagerness to do some gold mining.
352
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,080
Yacouba is the chief's cousin and the mine's foreman.
353
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,000
The mine has only been open for eight months.
354
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:47,720
He said, "Do you want to see gold?"
355
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:57,960
Assalaamu Alaikum.
356
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,960
These men are the modern-day version of the traders of old,
357
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:02,840
buying gold to sell on.
358
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:11,920
I'm surprised it's all so shiny and bright.
359
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,480
Somehow I thought it would be in big rocks and you wouldn't
360
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,440
actually be able to see that it's real gold, which it obviously is.
361
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,520
And these guys here are weighing it and pushing it out.
362
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,840
Apparently the price varies a lot.
363
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,280
But it's great to see it here.
364
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,560
At the moment gold sells for the equivalent of £20 per gram.
365
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,680
The mine here produces three to four kilograms a month.
366
00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:41,800
It's hard to work out where it's all coming from.
367
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,360
All I can see is a series of holes in the ground,
368
00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:47,600
but it turns out all of them are mine shafts
369
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,280
with people working down them.
370
00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,800
Working underground appears to be a male-only zone,
371
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:06,760
but I'm desperate to have a go myself.
372
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,440
Time to get my hands dirty... if they'll let me.
373
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:50,000
It's boiling hot, this is really hard work.
374
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,720
All the miners are laughing at me, but I'm actually doing my best.
375
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,840
There's a lot of hard graft involved in striking gold.
376
00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,320
And once you've used all your muscle power
377
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,240
to shovel earth from the ground,
378
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,240
actually spotting the gold is more difficult than you might think,
379
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,760
even with the help of a metal detector.
380
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:12,720
THEY SPEAK LOCAL LANGUAGE
381
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:36,520
I found gold.
382
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,760
When I say I found it, me and 30 excited miners found it.
383
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,920
I think that's going to pay for me to get all the way to Timbuktu.
384
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,720
I'm told my piece of gold is too small to be weighed,
385
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:49,440
but I don't care,
386
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,640
this is trans-Saharan trade in the palm of my hand.
387
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,160
This is just a small community mine, but you can see the potential
388
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,120
for enormous amounts of gold coming out of the ground.
389
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,440
I already found my own little nugget, I dug it up myself,
390
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,560
and it makes me realise that Timbuktu,
391
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,320
this mythical city of gold, may actually be a reality.
392
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,240
I'm finally setting off on the last leg of my journey.
393
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,200
I've travelled 2,000 miles to get to Mali
394
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:27,200
and there's just one last 700-mile stretch before I reach Timbuktu.
395
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,960
It looks so simple on the map, a short plane ride away,
396
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,680
but while once all routes led to the city,
397
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,240
recent events have changed that.
398
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:37,840
Allahu akbar.
399
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:39,160
Allahu akbar.
400
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,960
- NEWSREADER:
- 'On the night of April 1st,
401
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,720
'Islamists and local Tuareg rebels drove into Timbuktu.
402
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:49,880
'By dawn they were in control.'
403
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,000
In 2012, rebels invaded Timbuktu,
404
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,520
turning it from a cultural treasure trove
405
00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,400
into one of the world's most dangerous places.
406
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,760
Tuareg separatists wanted to create an independent state.
407
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,320
But they were soon supplanted by Islamic militants
408
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,320
who implemented their own extreme version of Sharia law.
409
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,200
A year later, French and Malian troops reclaimed the city.
410
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,320
Now, a UN presence keeps the fragile peace there.
411
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,080
The security situation means flights are strictly limited.
412
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:35,920
I'm camping out at Bamako airport, trying to get on a military plane.
413
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:40,000
This is the most difficult leg of the journey
414
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,120
because the only way to get into Timbuktu now is with the UN.
415
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,760
The political situation means that even in the olden days
416
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,760
when the traders came across the Sahara and had to face
417
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,400
all those difficulties, it's now worse,
418
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,200
it's harder to get into the city.
419
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,560
After waiting around, I finally managed to pick up a flight.
420
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:06,360
I feel as excited as those early European explorers must have felt.
421
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,160
"At last we arrived safely at Timbuktu.
422
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:15,840
"At the moment when the sun touched the horizon,
423
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,760
"that was when I saw this capital of Sudan,
424
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,400
"which for so long had been the focus of all my desires.
425
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,680
"Entering that mysterious city,
426
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,120
"which all the civilised nations of Europe have striven for,
427
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,960
"I was seized by an inexpressible feeling of satisfaction."
428
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,160
But when I touch down at Timbuktu,
429
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,680
I'm faced with the alarming reality
430
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,120
of a city which is effectively under siege.
431
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,480
It's really chilling to come into all these military checkpoints.
432
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,640
In the airport you see civilians and people greeting their families
433
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,760
and then here, it's all military personnel,
434
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,680
it's barbed wire everywhere, there's weapons everywhere.
435
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:07,080
There are only three miles of the Sahara between me and Timbuktu.
436
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:11,040
After travelling 2,000 miles, I'm just a few minutes away
437
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,160
and I'm getting butterflies.
438
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,120
The city's world-famous mosques are some of
439
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,640
the last surviving remnants of the medieval trader era
440
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,280
and I'm heading for one of them, the Sankore.
441
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,200
I've been waiting for this moment for years.
442
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,160
It's been a really, really long journey
443
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:30,880
with lots of obstacles in the way.
444
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,000
Slightly different ones from the traders,
445
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:34,480
but the same kind of feeling.
446
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:39,200
And now I get it, my first glimpse of the icon of Timbuktu -
447
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,680
this beautiful, stunning mosque
448
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,960
that looks nothing like anything I've seen before.
449
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,480
You can see it in pictures, but it's not the same as being here.
450
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,920
The Sankore Mosque was built in the 14th century
451
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,400
and its name means, white nobles,
452
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:02,120
reflecting the pale-skinned Berbers who ruled the city.
453
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:06,280
It must have been a hugely imposing sight for medieval traders
454
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,320
as they emerged from the desert.
455
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,360
I love touching history.
456
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,080
Just imagine all the people that made this,
457
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,320
all the people that have worshipped inside.
458
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:24,080
It's a symbol, but it's so much more than that because it's actually
459
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,960
a living, breathing place, the centre of the city.
460
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,680
The inside of the mosque is reserved for Muslim worshippers.
461
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:37,960
But just the sight of it transports me back
462
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,280
to the heady days of trans-Saharan trade.
463
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,200
I'm picturing this main square at the height of Timbuktu's glory
464
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:51,240
when it would be a cacophony of crazy noise and colour,
465
00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:54,480
with everybody here, the caravans, the merchants,
466
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,040
people trading every good imaginable.
467
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,520
Over there, we'd have people sitting with their weighing scales,
468
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,040
weighing out the goods.
469
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,640
Maybe over there you'd have the horrible scenes of the slaves
470
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,000
getting ready to be loaded up and taken up to the north,
471
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,360
crying because they didn't know where they were going,
472
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:10,880
what was going to happen to them.
473
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:16,280
Just a melee of humanity - Jews and Arabs, Tuaregs, Songhai,
474
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,680
all mixing together to make this
475
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:21,920
the most important trading centre of its day,
476
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:23,920
the city of gold.
477
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,120
The cultural richness of the city,
478
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:35,000
with its fabulous mosques, grew out of its material wealth.
479
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,200
The oldest and largest of them, the Djinguereber,
480
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,520
was built by the greatest king of Mali, Mansa Musa.
481
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:50,480
Though I'm not a Muslim, I've been granted special permission to go in.
482
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:58,000
Under the tall arches, I find Salem Ould Elhadjie,
483
00:35:58,000 --> 00:35:59,960
a historian and storyteller,
484
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:03,440
who tells me the tale of the richest man in history,
485
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:04,960
Mansa Musa.
486
00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:41,040
Tales of Mansa Musa's astonishing wealth spread across the globe
487
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,760
and thus began the legend of Timbuktu.
488
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:49,000
Many explorers over the centuries tried and failed to reach it.
489
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:52,040
In the 19th century,
490
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,840
a French explorer's club even offered a prize
491
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,800
to the first adventurer to reach the city and return.
492
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:02,880
But the first man to get here wasn't French, he was British.
493
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,760
Major Alexander Gordon Laing's house.
494
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,080
This is where he stayed in Timbuktu when he was here
495
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,480
and it's one of the places I've really, really wanted to come to.
496
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,760
He's a fellow Scot and I consider him an extremely brave man.
497
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:25,080
Alexander Gordon Laing reached Timbuktu in 1826.
498
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:29,440
It had taken him a year to trek from Tripoli across the Sahara,
499
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,600
and on the way he'd been viciously attacked and robbed.
500
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:37,200
Tuaregs had fractured his jaw and nearly cut off his right hand,
501
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:38,880
and he had a musket ball in his hip.
502
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,560
I have a copy of the letter he wrote when he arrived here.
503
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:46,680
He was only 32 years old.
504
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,680
"I have been busily employed during my stay,
505
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,880
"searching the records in the town, which are abundant.
506
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,400
"But my situation in Timbuktu has been rendered exceedingly unsafe
507
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,360
"by the unfriendly disposition of the Fulas,
508
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,600
"whose Sultan has expressed his hostility to me
509
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,200
"in no equivocal terms.
510
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,560
"He has now got intelligence of my being in Timbuktu
511
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:13,520
"and as a party of Fulas are hourly expected,
512
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,840
"Alkaidy Boubacar, who is an excellent good man,
513
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:19,960
"and who trembles for my safety,
514
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,000
"has strongly urged my immediate departure."
515
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,440
This was the last letter Laing ever wrote.
516
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,160
After fleeing Timbuktu, he was captured
517
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,400
and then brutally strangled by Tuareg raiders.
518
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,040
It's bittersweet, sitting here in Laing's house...
519
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:43,480
reading his letter in the place that he stayed in Timbuktu.
520
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:46,600
I'm here, I'm wandering the same streets that he did.
521
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:48,520
He died in such a horrible way,
522
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,920
but he achieved such an incredible thing.
523
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,960
It puts my puny attempts to get here into perspective.
524
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,520
This man was incredibly courageous.
525
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,440
He knew that he might die, but he still did it
526
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,640
in the interests of finding out about this great city.
527
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:05,920
I wish I had half that courage.
528
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:12,920
Two years later, in 1828, a Frenchman, Rene Caillie,
529
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:16,040
won the race for Timbuktu and returned alive
530
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,040
to claim the 10,000-franc prize.
531
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,480
That's more than £75,000 in today's money.
532
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,600
It was a prize which had cost Laing his life.
533
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,360
Today, 60,000 people live in Timbuktu,
534
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,720
a mix of the different tribes who have made their mark on this city
535
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:42,000
throughout its history.
536
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,800
It was founded in the 12th century by the Tuaregs
537
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,880
with their trademark scarves and fierce reputation.
538
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,080
They're nomads of the Sahara
539
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:56,400
and the mainstay of the caravan trade across the desert.
540
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,520
Most still live a nomadic life, like the Agata family
541
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,840
who come to Timbuktu to trade.
542
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,240
Muhammad's forefathers grew rich
543
00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:12,840
from trading in salt and Malian gold.
544
00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,320
He still uses that gold in his jewellery.
545
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,880
Since the militants' incursion, the Sahara has become too dangerous,
546
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,120
even for Tuareg nomads,
547
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,400
and the Agatas now rely on their jewellery to survive.
548
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:16,880
- Zacate.
- Zacate.
549
00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,960
I've been invited to join the family for lunch,
550
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,400
which Muhammad's wife, Maya, is preparing.
551
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:42,840
The meat is goat, cooked slowly to tenderise it.
552
00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,040
I want to know if it's true
553
00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,560
that in this warrior culture, women rule the roost.
554
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:09,080
I'm not used to seeing men veiled
555
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,600
and women uncovered in a Muslim country.
556
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:13,520
It's a complete role reversal.
557
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,960
Maya has provided a feast.
558
00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:29,800
But times are hard for the Agata family.
559
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,360
The security risks in Timbuktu have scared away the tourists
560
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,400
and it's too dangerous to cross the desert to trade.
561
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,280
Their nomadic lifestyle is on hold.
562
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:51,240
To me, Timbuktu seems a peaceful, friendly place,
563
00:44:51,240 --> 00:44:54,960
but the UN presence all over the city is a constant reminder
564
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,120
of the dangers that lurk outside its boundaries.
565
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:02,600
And that's where I'm going next - to follow the salt road south.
566
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:12,840
What made Timbuktu such a great centre of trade
567
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:15,080
was its geographical location.
568
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,000
A crossroads between the desert of the Sahara
569
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:19,800
and the great Niger River.
570
00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:25,040
The Niger lies just five miles south of Timbuktu,
571
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,520
but once again, I have to rely on the UN to take me there.
572
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:33,720
This time in an armoured convoy on one of their daily patrols.
573
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:40,480
There are 1,200 UN peacekeeping troops in Timbuktu,
574
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,120
their third largest force in the world,
575
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,440
and Mali is their deadliest mission.
576
00:45:56,240 --> 00:45:59,800
My driver, Kai, tells me that only two weeks before I arrived,
577
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:01,640
there was a rocket attack here.
578
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,520
So, when you patrol, are you looking out for anything in particular?
579
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:11,800
Everything that's sort of unusual, or...is it calm or not?
580
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,600
You can't sort of pinpoint what you're looking for,
581
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:20,360
you're just looking that is it... the same way that it usually is.
582
00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:29,000
The desert eventually gives way to a sea of green.
583
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,560
This is where the camel met the canoe
584
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:34,160
in the days of trans-Saharan trade.
585
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:40,240
And when I see the Niger River for the first time,
586
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:41,920
it takes my breath away.
587
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,680
The port of Korioume is going about its daily business,
588
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:52,000
oblivious, it seems, to the danger around it.
589
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,520
And I'm curious to know what kind of goods
590
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,600
are passing through here today.
591
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:57,640
Monsieur.
592
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:09,600
Ibrahim is the harbour master here.
593
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:13,120
Two boats have just pulled in and are unloading their cargo.
594
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:31,760
There's a huge variety of merchandise
595
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:34,600
including a whole consignment of motorbikes...
596
00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:39,840
..but hiding under a tarpaulin is something much more interesting.
597
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:48,880
Just uncovered a big treasure trove of salt.
598
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,280
This is an exciting discovery.
599
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,920
I'd thought that the salt trade through Timbuktu had been halted,
600
00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:59,680
but here it is, in huge 30kg tablets,
601
00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:01,960
waiting to be shipped south.
602
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,960
Ibrahim tells me that Saharan salt is still highly prized.
603
00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:22,760
In days of old it was vital to preserve meat.
604
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:26,920
Now it's a gourmet item, and after all these centuries
605
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:30,880
it's still an important part of Timbuktu's trade.
606
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:41,440
Timbuktu is a place where legends abound -
607
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:46,480
of fierce Tuareg warriors and brave, moustachioed, European explorers.
608
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:50,600
But I'm here to meet some unlikely heroes, the librarians.
609
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:53,800
- Bonjour.
- Bonjour.
610
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:04,440
In its heyday, Timbuktu was one of
611
00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,440
the world's most important centres of learning.
612
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:10,000
Priceless manuscripts were created here
613
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:14,440
and transported via the trade routes throughout Africa and into Europe.
614
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,640
Here at the Ahmed Baba Institute,
615
00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:24,200
Bouya and his team had collected thousands of them.
616
00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:32,880
When the Islamic extremists took over the city in 2012,
617
00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:36,520
the heritage of a whole continent was put in jeopardy.
618
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:07,120
But the librarians were determined to save their treasure.
619
00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:28,920
At dead of night, they began sneaking the books out,
620
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:32,680
hidden in trunks, right under the noses of the militants.
621
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:47,800
Haidera and the librarians managed to smuggle out
622
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:49,480
almost all of the collection.
623
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:55,280
But in January 2013,
624
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:59,360
when Timbuktu was finally reclaimed by French and Malian troops,
625
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,920
the extremists committed one final act of vandalism
626
00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:04,600
as they fled the city.
627
00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:11,760
They brought out a box of the remaining books and set fire to it.
628
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:43,880
Throughout history, men have burned books,
629
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:45,960
fearing the knowledge they contain.
630
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,120
The charred remains of the manuscripts have become
631
00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:54,160
part of the collection, fragments of Africa's golden past.
632
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:30,960
Since I've been in Timbuktu,
633
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:34,160
I've been really touched by how the city has coped with
634
00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:36,480
all it's been through in recent years.
635
00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:37,760
THEY SPEAK LOCAL LANGUAGE
636
00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:40,960
The physical and emotional turmoil of invasion
637
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:44,000
and the damage to its culture and lifestyle.
638
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,480
Today its people live with the constant threat
639
00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:50,200
of danger on their doorstep
640
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:52,440
and many have been left in poverty.
641
00:52:54,160 --> 00:52:56,160
But the city has another enemy,
642
00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:58,880
one it's lived with since it came into existence -
643
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:00,400
the desert.
644
00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:07,720
I love the desert, but it's a very harsh place
645
00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:10,840
and I can see that when I look around behind me at Timbuktu,
646
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:12,840
because everywhere there's sand,
647
00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:15,880
it's encroaching, it's eating away at the buildings
648
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:18,920
and it feels like it's almost making the city disappear.
649
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:29,320
On every corner, I see people battling to keep the sand at bay.
650
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:35,200
It attacks the buildings too, wind and sand eroding the walls.
651
00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:38,960
And it's a constant fight to keep those mud-built mosques
652
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,640
from crumbling back into the dust.
653
00:53:45,680 --> 00:53:48,800
El Bukhari bin al-Suyuti is in charge of maintaining
654
00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:50,520
the city's cultural heritage,
655
00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:54,520
which includes fighting off the scouring effects of the weather.
656
00:54:15,240 --> 00:54:18,800
It's not just the abrasive combination of wind and sand.
657
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:21,600
Recent heavy rains have also severely damaged
658
00:54:21,600 --> 00:54:24,280
the exterior plasterwork on these mosques.
659
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:29,000
I'm pleased that the city is getting some help from outside agencies,
660
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:32,440
like UNESCO, to preserve these iconic buildings,
661
00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:34,960
but what's more difficult to deal with
662
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:37,680
is the march of the Sahara into Timbuktu.
663
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:43,320
The city is in danger of being gradually swallowed by the desert.
664
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,520
Timbuktu is no longer El Dorado.
665
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:24,480
It's a charming, sleepy town that's slowly disappearing
666
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:28,360
and it seems to me its streets are now paved with sand, not gold.
667
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:34,280
It's a place where the Sahara, which brought untold wealth to its gates,
668
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:37,200
has been both a blessing and a curse.
669
00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:47,520
Timbuktuans love a party.
670
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:50,400
Their fierce history, the violence of the occupation,
671
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:53,880
the encroaching sands - nothing can stop them,
672
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:58,000
and I've been invited to a Tuareg shindig by my friends Maya and Muhammad.
673
00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:08,200
Traditional Tuareg music has two components -
674
00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:11,080
a three-stringed tehardent and a calabash drum.
675
00:56:16,680 --> 00:56:20,360
First, the women dance and, of course, I have to join in myself.
676
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:23,280
I choose Maya as my dance partner.
677
00:56:23,280 --> 00:56:25,160
THEY SING IN OWN LANGUAGE
678
00:56:26,600 --> 00:56:29,040
It's a curiously sedate experience,
679
00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:32,240
but that all changes when it's the turn of the men.
680
00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:41,720
Oh-la-la-la!
681
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:48,360
The women's dance was very, very gentle.
682
00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:51,040
I just had to wave my hands a little bit and wiggle my eyebrows.
683
00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:52,280
Very enjoyable.
684
00:56:52,280 --> 00:56:55,160
The men's dance is incredibly energetic.
685
00:56:55,160 --> 00:56:58,080
They're leaping up and down like little frogs.
686
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:07,360
Five years ago, when the city was occupied, all music was forbidden.
687
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:11,880
Now, the irrepressible spirit of these desert people
688
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:15,000
is free to express itself again in the song and dance
689
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:18,240
that the Sahara has been witness to for centuries.
690
00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:26,560
It was the promise of gold and salt,
691
00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:29,200
as well as precious books and manuscripts,
692
00:57:29,200 --> 00:57:31,960
that brought the world to Timbuktu's gates
693
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:36,560
and helped forge the trans-Saharan trade routes, the salt roads of old,
694
00:57:36,560 --> 00:57:38,320
that I've travelled to get here.
695
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:45,560
Along the way, I've crossed spectacular landscapes
696
00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:49,200
and met extraordinary people with ancient ways of life.
697
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:54,120
I've uncovered lost empires
698
00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:56,960
and found treasure in the strangest places.
699
00:57:57,960 --> 00:58:01,520
But most of all, I've finally completed my quest
700
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:05,640
and discovered for myself the living myth of Timbuktu.
701
00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:11,440
Am I disappointed not to find my El Dorado?
702
00:58:11,440 --> 00:58:15,080
No, because in every corner you can feel the legacy
703
00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:17,200
of its magnificent past.
704
00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:21,320
It's a heritage that needs protecting,
705
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:24,200
from both nature and mankind,
706
00:58:24,200 --> 00:58:27,280
so future generations can, like me,
707
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:30,400
make their own journey to this magical city.
60490
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