WEST-AFRICA
CULTURAL EVENTS & HOLIDAYS

When planning your itinerary consider the special events Throughout the year. The more important are listed below.

January
- New year's day (1) celebrated all over Africa
- Togo liberation day (13) - A vast parade makes its way through the streets of Lome.
- Festival in the desert ESSAKANE, international festival of Music in Mali

Essakane Festival

Created in January 2001, the Festival Au Desert is held every year in the North of Mali, usually in Essakane, two hours from Timbuktu; sometimes directly at Timbuktu. This festival seeks its origin in the big traditional Touareg festivities, as Takoubelt in Kidal and Temakannit in Timbuktu, which represented for a long time a place for decision making and exchange of information among the different communities. At the beginning, there were songs and touareg dances, poetries, camel rides and games. Today, the Festival is opened to the external world and welcomes artists from other Malian regions, other African countries, but also from Europe and the rest of the world. During three days, around 30 artistic groups are invited from all around the world to present their art.

February
Restauration of the Mosque in Jenne.
FESPACO- in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,this all African film festival is held for 10 days every year during the last week of February
Festival on the Niger, international festival of Music, Segu

FESTIVAL ON NIGER RIVER
15 days Cultural Adventure

Festival on Niger River is annual highlights the life along the Niger River and is planned from 4th to 7th of February. This cultural event constitutes a real symbiosis of the modern and traditional music and the celebration of traditional and modern arts (textile, sculpture, jewellery, pottery...).

Dances, music's, masks, puppets, and other spectacles such as the infamous hunters' dances or canoes' races on the river will further help you discover the subtleties of indigenous life of the peoples inhabiting the bank of this majestuous river.

In order to preserve this unique cultural and environmental heritage, the Festival also provide forum for participants to discuss and address the ecological threats faced by the Niger River. Once again, we can further enrich you personal experience by forging itineraries to venture into other interesting cultural sites of Mali.

March
- Tilsm- near kanté (Togo), the Bassar people spend over three days in this dry month trying to predict the crop.Men perform sintou, a magical dance that can last as long as the festival .
- Festival of masks and puppets de Markala

April
- Senegalese National day (4) - Senegal biggest public celebration; coincides with the West African international Marathon in Dakar
- Niger's National festival (15) - a major holiday involving one week of traditional Dancing , wrestling and camel races .
- Festival des masques (25)- held around Bandiagara,Mali, the mask festival is the major Festival of Mali's Dogon people and is celebrated in the Dogon villages in April or early May. Masks dancing is the attraction.

May
-Kaama Musundo,festival of the Soninkés people in Mali. -A holiday celebration and meeting - Aboakyer festival ; this festival in winneba,Ghana, is on the first Saturday in May and draws large crowds. The main event is the deer hunt , when several groups of men try to be the first to catch a deer, followed by the royal processions through the streets, and dancing.

June
-Fishing festival (4)
- The first Tuesday of July , this coloful event in Elmina,Ghana includes a parade of royally dressed chiefs.

August
- Grand Magal (5)
- A pilgrimage and celebration in Touba , Senegal , held 48 days after the Islamic new year to celebrate the return from exile of the founder of the Mouride Islamic brotherhood

September
- Yams festival (2) - at the beginning of September, this in Bassar, Togo, has folks dancing, fire dances and traditional costumes.
- Aguaa fetu afabye festival (4) -this Cape Coast (Ghana) festival takes place the first Saturday in September .
- The pageantry is particularly coloroful , and there's music and dancing all over the town
- Guin festival ( 8-11 ) - this four-day festival in Glidjo-Anébo,Togo, starts on a Thursday before the second Sunday in September. Processions the first two days and followed by dancing and celebrations during the last two days.
- The biennial festival ( 9-22) - in Bamako, Mali , this two week festival takes place every two years, starting around the second week of September. It sponsors various sporting and cultural events .

December
- Cattle crossing (10-12) - The exact date is not fixed until November. This is a very interesting in Diafarabé, Mali, when Fulani herders from the desert bring Hundreds of thousands of cattle to an area about 200 km north-east of Segu to cross the Niger river in search of greener pastures.
- Christmas (25) - celebrated everywhere.