02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
The stage floats. You sit on the red dust of the riverbank and watch a kora player at one end of a 30-metre barge as the Niger slides past behind him, dark and slow. Pirogues with hurricane lamps drift between you and the music. The dancers come on barefoot, the line of women in dyed cotton with shoulders moving in counterpoint to the drum, and the whole town of Ségou empties down to the water to listen.
Fly via Bamako and overland to Ségou with a known driver. Check FCO travel advice for Mali before booking; the security picture changes by the season.
The most photogenic natural-outdoor festival on the continent, built on the river itself.
Annual, first week of February. Five days on the banks of the Niger River in Ségou. The river-facing stages run from sunset to midnight; daytime is for workshops and traditional-music programmes.
Annual February festival, five days. Daytime workshops 10:00 to 17:00. Evening main stages 18:00 to midnight.
Fly Bamako (BKO), drive 240 km north-east to Ségou (3-4 hours by road). Local taxis. The Niger River frontage at Ségou is the festival's main site, signed throughout town.