From Here to Timbuktu

The phrase “from here to Timbuktu,” is commonly used to describe some remote, hard-to-reach mythical place, but never a real destination that one could actually visit. But then, a few years ago, I was on a flight going who knows where, when I started chatting with a woman sitting next to me.

“I’m going to Timbuktu,” she tells me, adding “by myself.” Wow! And I thought I was gutsy.

Apparently, she’s not the only one that seeks out this fabled city (located in the African country of Mali, by the way), which was a prosperous trading hub during the 14th century.

In 1824, the Geographical Society of Paris offered a reward of 7,000 Francs and a gold medal valued at 2,000 Francs to the first European who could visit Timbuktu and return to recount their story of the mythical, sub-Saharan city. The first person believe to have reached Timbuktu —a Scottish explorer named Gordon Laing — was shot, injured by a swordsman and broke his arm on his way there in 1825. He stayed a month, but two days after leaving, he was murdered. It was the French explorer Rene-Auguste Caillie, who ultimately earned the prize after reaching the city two years later.

It’s still hard to get to Timbuktu, but it doesn’t necessarily involve risking life and limb. The long journey starts with procuring a Mali visa, getting vaccinations, malaria tablets and mosquito nets well before setting foot on Malian soil. Then comes the deeply rutted roads or creaky boats that cruise up and down the Niger River when there’s actually water flowing in it. Yet thousands of determined travelers from all corners of the globe make their way there each year—and some go just to check it off their bucket list.

“My primary purpose for going there was to say that I’d been there,” Peggy Turbett told me. The photographer and photo editor for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, signed up for a 17-day journey with Archaeological Tours in 2002, which included Timbuktu as a destination. But during the trip, she discovered there was a lot more to Mali than she ever imagined. Her exhibit “Beyond Timbuktu,” which went on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History six years ago, featured stunning images from all over the country.

The day after I booked my flight to Mali, I wandered into my neighborhood coffee shop and noticed a photo of Turbett’s featuring a famous mud mosque in Djenné, Mali. I recognized the unique architecture instantly from the Lonely Planet guidebook I had been reading.

I took it as a good sign about my decision to visit. Timbuktu wasn’t necessarily something I had to do on this trip, I’ll be perfectly honest: it’ll be freakin’ cool to say I’ve been there. The journey begins October 1.
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Is there anywhere you’ve visited JUST to say you’ve been there? Feel free to add to this list:

GO TO HELL: The town of Hell, Michigan, (15 miles from Ann Arbor) capitalizes on its kitsch. But go in the summer; otherwise, you might have a cold day in Hell. There’s also a Hell in the Cayman Islands. Other places to visit for their name include: St. Louis de Ha! Ha! (Quebec, Canada); Carefree (Arizona); Pee Pee in Pikes County (Ohio); Truth or Consequences (New Mexico); What Cheer (Iowa); Fucking (Austria); and the incredible Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (Massachusetts).

GO TO EXTREMES: Ain’t no mountain higher than Mount Everest, but I wouldn’t advise climbing it without plenty of training. But reaching the lowest spot on earth is a day at the beach — on the Dead Sea in Jordan. Other extreme points on the earth include the world’s southernmost city (Ushuai, Argentina); the northernmost city (Norilsk, Siberia); longest cave (Mammoth Cave, Kentucky).