From Here to Timbuktu

The fabled city of Timbuktu, once the dazzling commercial and intellectual capital of the Songhay empire, is now just another impoverished desert town on the adventure holiday trail for affluent Western tourists. From Here to Timbuktu follows the fortunes of a group of tourists as they make their way by 4x4 and pinasse across the Mali desert. Cash–rich and time–poor, they want 'to see where life is raw.' Like Chaucer's pilgrims on the road to Canterbury, these travellers pass the time bickering, gossiping, flirting and falling out, eventually sharing the stories of their lives with humour and pathos. Written in Chaucer's rime royal, From Here to Timbuktu is a book about Third World poverty and First World consumption. It's a travelogue, a satire, an epic poem, and a journey across the savannah in a four–wheel drive from here – to Timbuktu.