27-Jan-2007 -- Continued from 13N 8W.
After a couple of abortive attempts to leave Timbuktu on the northward track that passes this Confluence, we opted to go northeast for a few kilometres and then cut northwest across trackless sahel to pick up the northward track beyond the dunes that had frustrated an earlier DC-bagger's attempt on this site. We achieved this with still another 5 miles north to go, and with the sun sinking fast. We decided to press on and reached our goal at 17:30 hrs - just a few paces east of the good track north.
All done and dusted, we left the site, on stabilised dunes covered with rough grazing and low bushes, at 17:45 hrs and reached Timbuktu as darkness fell at 18:30. This involved crossing the dunes just outside Timbuktu via a quite difficult soft-sand trail, that might well have frustrated us too had we found ourselves on it too far south when starting out! Clearly luck plays a part in these matters, and this had been our day.
Continued at 15N 16W.
Photos courtesy Don Kelley.