Day 4 – San, Sibi

After an early morning breakfast at the hotel in San, we headed to the most-spectacular sight in Mali – Great Mosque of San.

 

Djenne, Mopti and Dogon Country At the time of writing this trip report (October 2024), the most-visited and sought-after places of Djenne, Mopti and Dogon Country were not accessible because of the ongoing security situation in Mali. The furthest east any traveler could reach is San, or to the border with Burkina Faso. Make sure to check with your local guide or the local authorities on visiting Djenne or Mopti before planning your trip. Some tour operators offer special and expensive flights from Bamako to Timbuktu, but visiting Timbuktu was not recommended at the time of publishing this report (October 2024).

 

San

The Great Mosque of San is a smaller version of the majestic mosque in Djenne. It is a masterpiece of Sudano-Sahelian architecture, with its striking mud-brick construction. The conical towers and wooden beams, known as torons, create a unique and timeless aesthetic. The mosque is slowly degenerated by the forces of nature like rain and wind, and every year the locals come together to reconstruct this icon!

 

Great Mud Mosque of San, Mali (Source: Mali paw b di on Facebook)

We started from San at 9am, heading west for about 5 hour drive via Bamako, to the mountainous region of Sibi.

Sibi

After a stop in Bamako for lunch, we reached Sibi around 2pm and first stop was the post office to get a stamp in the Postal Stamps Travelogue book from Sibi. The post office lies in a terrible state, but the post master was happy to see a customer considering no one actually uses the official post office for anything!

From the post office, we drove for about 10 minutes south and then for about 30 minute on really rough roads to our camp in Sibi. The terrain on the way to camp was mountainous laden with waterfalls because of the rains over the previous few days!

And you come across this amazing rock structure balanced by a tip on the base, created naturally by thousands of years of wind and rain erosion!

Operated by a French man who has lived in Mali for decades, the camp is located off of the main road at the base of the famous rock arch, and has three huts for tourists with shared bathrooms and toilets. Each hut is provided with cozy beds with mosquito nets and a fan. All meals are served fresh by the amazing staff who also live on the property.

 

We had an early dinner and called it a night after long conversations over dinner and drinks with the gracious host!

Mali story highlights on Instagram This trip report can also be seen on our story highlights on Instagram account @travelonthedollar. Click the image on left to go directly to Mali Highlights, or visit our Instagram profile and under ‘Highlights’, scroll to the right and click on ‘Mali’.

 

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = XOF 595 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult. Note that the expenses do not include international flights to and from Mali.
 

What	Cost	Notes
Post office stamp	$0.78	XOF 465.
Day Costs	$0.78	Per person
Overall Costs	$1,795.86	Per person

 

 
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