The Timbuktu School for Nomads by Nicholas Jubber: book review

The Timbuktu School for Nomads: Lessons from the People of the Desert (2016) is set in northwest Africa from Fez in Morocco to his destination: Timbuktu in Mali.

Nicholas Jubber is setting out on the travel of his dreams – following in the footsteps of the 16th century traveller Leo Africanus in 1510. The year is 2013. And the route is a journey of 1,200 miles.

There are nine parts to this travelogue, and after each of eight parts is a lesson: baggage, riding, tracking, camp, study and play, lore, water, and score. For example, ‘the dues of hospitality extend for three days.’ The lessons are those of the Tuareg, Fulani, Berbers and others and the values within their communities.

Jubber writes of the poets of the Sahara, the Numidian Arabs, and the definition of Moor, and of the people he meets along his long journey to the mysterious mystical city of Timbuktu.

But it is not until page 179 – 60% into the book – that he writes of crossing into Mali. He has not yet reached Timbuktu. Finally, on page 265 – 87% into the book - ‘a mulberry ribbon of dawn glimmers over the boards on the outskirts of Timbuktu.’ The outskirts of Timbuktu. This is definitely not a book about the destination – it is about the journey. In fact, the original title of the book was The Timbuktu School for Nomads: Across the Sahara in the Shadow of Jihad.

The real lesson of this book is ‘it’s a long way to Timbuktu’ – or as Jimmy Buffett wrote in 2002 in his song Far Side of the World: ‘I was riding long before I flew, Through the wind and sand and stars. Caravan, Ride that hump, And Timbuktu’s a jillion bumps, Sleeping bags…’ Yes, in this Jubber travelogue, I wonder whether I’ll ever get to Timbuktu for it seems a jillion bumps away.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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