Mali is West Africa in microcosm: the trackless sands of the Sahara and the fascinating cities and cultures of the Niger Riverbank, all set to a soundtrack of the World-famous Malian music.

The Sahara, in the north, covers 60 percent of Malian territory, but the Niger River is Africa’s third-longest and cuts through the heart of Mali for 1626 kilometers, even venturing into the desert briefly. The country’s far south is green and rich in agricultural possibility.

The Sahara, which dominates the northern half of Mali, is a surprisingly diverse world of sand seas, plains devoid of all life and palm-fringed oases. The Niger River charts a course up the middle of the country through every conceivable type of terrain, form the lush reed gardens of the inland delta to towering sand dunes that turn pink with the setting sun.

Most of West Africa’s wildlife may have gone the way of the dodo, but the animal kingdom’s most prodigious feeder, the elephant, somehow manages to survive on the meagre resources of the Sahel, roaming the Gourma region between the Niger River and the Burkina Faso border.