Taking place from Thursday January 8th -10th 2009, the "Festival in the Desert" is held every year in Essakane, located two hours from Timbuktu (exactly??) in Mali - it's perhaps the only festival you can arrrive at on a camel.

We're definitely going as we're expecting a new Leica and video camera from Santa Claus this year and would quite like to use them for something other than our Facebook profile page in 2009.

Created in January 2001, the festival is inspired by the big traditional Touareg festivities of the area.Today, the Festival is has opened to the rest of thel world and welcomes artists from other Malian regions, 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.

Tickets have just gone on sale on their official site - www.festival-au-desert.org.

Take a peek at "Tracks in the Sand" below for some more inspiration.

Source: www.festival-au-desert.org

Photo Credit: Ross Johnson