In 2007, three more rooms were added on the roof with an open terrace for an unobstructed view at the stars that guide the Touareg through the Sahara.
Mamayti will pick you up from the
doorstep of your hotel for a camel
ride into the desert.
Bathrooms
were installed
in the ground-
floor rooms '07
- upstairs by
end of 2009 -
i n s h a l l a h !
The original "Hotel Camping Touareg", a
traditional family house made of mud (2004).
A "modern" kitchen was added (front, left)
and the wall fortified with limestone (2006).
The canopy in the corner was
replaced by the kitchen (below),
the staircase is
hidden behind the
bar (right and
below).
A "hangar" stretches across the court covering the
restaurant/bar where locals and tourists alike enjoy
a cool beer or soda as well as videos and satellite TV.
Owner of the hotel
standing at the entrance
to the rooms. A large
closed terrace runs
in front of the rooms.
Bar (top)
Chamelier Mamayti
Patrons of the
bar/restaurant at the
Hotel Camping Touareg
Solar lights thru the table centre
Every hotel in Timbuktu
should have a salt plate.
Esau with his lovely wife ..now they are three.
Math-student Ousmane (left) and friend.
Ousmane is now teaching math in Timbuktu.
Owner with a German couple who were camping on the
roof of the Hotel Camping Touareg at Christmas 2005.
Group of five Italians enjoying breakfast. Where they are sitting is now the bar. Things were simple then, cheaper, too. Maybe I should have kept it that way?
Another
satiesfied
couple leaving
after the
Festival of
Essakane.
Younis (front right) is
supervising
the departure.
Owner with Touareg
friend Almouzer.
Baba from restaurant
"Poulet d'Or"
Let'sGo and the little rascals of Abaradjou.
Younis
Younis is a daily guest.
The annual music festival of Essakane has all rooms in
Timbuktu filled. European couple leaving the Hotel Camping Touareg after the festival in January 2007.
Timbuktu's wealth used to
come from trade with salt,
ivory, gold, and slaves. At
that time, the value of salt
was equal to that of gold.
Caravans still bring
salt from Taoudenni
to Timbuktu where it
is shipped on boats
on the Niger river to
other cities in the
country.
Owner with Touareg
friend Almouzer and
salt plate (left).
The corner lot across the street from the "Hotel Camping Touareg" has been adapted for modern living (right). There is still a lot of space left for camping or construction.
Inside the corner lot: the 2 jalousie-windows belong to
the terrace from where you reach a room & bathroom.
Mahi Toure', beloved radio celebrity of "Radio Bouctou" made the "hangar" in the hotel as well as the fence of the new lot (2/2007, above). When the owner returned, the fence was gone. "A donkey did it", the kids said but the owner has her own theory..
Going to the desert by camel. Younis comes to say
"bye, bye". In the back you see the Peace Monument
and the street leading to the Hotel Camping Touareg.
