The Road to Timbuktu

These images chronicle an incredible journey I undertook last January through Mali on my way to the annual Essakane Desert Music Festival. Accompanied by my husband Mike Herron, I experienced a vast country filled with gentle people and  a wealth of art and music. Traveling by car, bus, and finally by pinasse (a rudimentary, open-air boat that can carry up to 20 people) up the Niger River, my small group also trekked by foot through the evocative Dogon Country. Arriving at the music festival 80 miles northwest of Timbuktu, I was treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience that remains with me to this day.
by Dorit Thies