Ousmane Garba Kounta
With a population of around 22 million, this vast landlocked country in West Africa is a bit larger than California and Texas combined, and about five times the size of the entire United Kingdom. It´s a place of sweeping Sahel landscapes, ancient cities, and extraordinary cultural depth, with a climate ranging from hot, dry desert in the north to semi-arid and tropical zones farther south. Travelers visit for its legendary heritage—Timbuktu, Djenné, Dogon Country—its music, river life, and warm hospitality, offering experiences unlike anywhere else on Earth. But sadly, the country is in tough shape under an authoritarian régime as a result of the latest military coup, in 2021, and many regions outside capital Bamako face security challenges thanks to armed conflicts generated by Islamic jihadists and Tuareg separatists; most governments maintain strong advisories against travel here (another consideration is that as of January 1 Mali has prohibited visits from U.S. citizens, in retaliation for the United States having recently done the same for its citizens) . Despite all this, the country does still receive more than 100,000 adventurous tourists a year, but should you wish to join them, you need to do so with expert, vetted guidance (and indeed, as part of an organized tour rather than independently), strict safety precautions, and only after reviewing the most up-to-date security and accessibility information available. If all this this puts you off, consider this a tantalizing promise for a future trip once conditions permit.
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