Legends aren’t born overnight, something only becomes legendary after stories are passed on through the decades over hundreds of years. When it comes to travel destinations they don’t come much more legendary then Timbuktu. Now we know why that legend lives on.

Yes – Timbuktu really does exist and you’ll find it in northern Mali on the edge of the Sahara.

Tired of reading already? See the road to Timbuktu as we filmed it!

What can we say about it? The town itself is far from an oasis, but it’s the lengths you’ll take to get there that tells the real tale.

Wait around in the shade of an old wooden hut hiding away from the searing heat in a car yard as you wait for enough passengers to arrive to overload a 4 x 4 Toyota. Begin the journey north and as the sun saps the life out of the surroundings, kilometre by kilometre the road evaporates into little more then a dusty sand dune trail.

With 140km to go, with the mercury nudging 47 degrees celcius and cars exceeding load capacities you can guarantee you’ll be required to help out others on the way – if you don’t break down yourself. Packed 4 to a row it’s hard work amidst the incumbent sandstorm. If like us you decide to go in the middle of hot season, you’ll experience the hot winds and the anger of the skies as they turn a bright orange like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

Sounds too easy? Don’t be fooled, as usual things don’t just go to plan.

Stop to push a broken down bus out of a boggy sand jam and your hopes of reaching Timbuktu begin to fade amongst the haze along with daylight. You can only dream of what it would be like to reach the last ferry which leaves to cross the Niger at 6pm. As a weary driver pushes on into the darkness, the panic in local passengers is obvious as increased speeds on deteriorating roads can lead only to danger. In our case, the driver did almost roll the vehicle on two separate occasions before protests intervened and locals threatened to get out.

Reach the river crossing in pure darkness and wonder what you will do for the night. Most stay and await daybreak to cross into Timbuktu. Naturally, we didn’t want to wait. Find a French speaker, find a local with a boat and find some CFA (local currency). Paddle across the Niger in the middle of the night, share some cigarettes with checkpoint police on the other side and follow into the darkness. Walk through dried up rice paddies, through fish markets, wade through shin deep water and after 5km of darkness rendevous with a van which is usually designated for the transportation of animals.

It’s not an orthedox approach but it’s authentic and although unadvisable given the currently security warnings for the area – in the early hours of the morning – we made it.

That’s right we made it to Timbuktu.

You’re in the town that’s famous for personifying ‘the middle of nowhere’ and it’s the gateway to the Sahara, so there’s plenty to see. Camel rides, mud mosques, markets and museums with the tales of those who’ve gone before and those who weren’t so lucky to survive.

The ride back isn’t particularly easy either, but at least we made the ferry. By not particularly easy we mean – 400km in 43 degrees, you only have one breakdown, one ongoing argument over leg room with an angry individual, one baby pulling you hair, hitting, spewing and urinating on you and the new experience of a warm breast feeding over your arm on the bumpy road back. But don’t worry, that was only for the first 5 hours.

That aside, at least when you make it back like us you can stand loud and proud and say – I’ve been to Timbuktu and back.

If you don’t believe after all these years it’s still that hard? We filmed it and the heat alone destroyed most of our gear, so check out the video.