Tosha's Timbuktu

Timbuktu is a thousand year old frontier town, the southern gateway to the Sahara. A slightly newer, slightly more accessible version of the city was our first destination on Safari this week, the sim of Timbuktu... HG address, as tradition demands, at the end of the post, where it belongs.

The name of the city has been synonymous with the utter limits of the world, an unknowable place in the middle of nowhere, and it's a reputation earned through the centuries, through the writings of people like Ibn Battuta in the 1300s and Leo Africanus two hundred years later. Timbuktu is protected by the port town of Kabara twelve miles to the south, on the Niger River, the chief communications route in this part of the world. Many a disappointed traveler in both ancient and modern times has been turned back at Kabara, adding to the mystique of the city of learning that few outsiders have ever had a chance to see firsthand.

Edinburgh born explorer, scholar, and soldier Alexander Laing is thought to have been the first European to see Timbuktu, hoping to win the 9,000 Franc prize offered by the Société de Géographie to the first non muslim to visit the city and come back with information about it. After a traumatic crossing of the Sahara, he arrived in town in the summer of 1826 and spent some time in the legendary libraries. Weeks later, as he departed the city, he was killed by the men he had paid to protect him, just a few months shy of his thirty-second birthday. 

Less than a year later, Frenchman René Caillié won the prize, bringing back a firsthand account of this almost mythical city of learning and culture. Today, travelers face very similar risks as those first journeyers did. The city has been on the edge of a war zone since about 2012, with the usual mix of tribal interests, global politics, poverty, historic resentment, opportunism, way too many weapons floating about, testosterone and religion all causing havoc to the fabric of the fragile treasures of the town.

For that reason, we're lucky to be able to visit the city virtually, on Craft Grid, thanks to builder Tosha Tyran's sim Timbuktu. It comes alive with NPCs and interpretive boards, making the experience one of the richest in opensim, if you like learning about exotic places. The biggest obstacle for anyone who hasn't teleported to Craft before, is a few clickies to authenticate your avatar. It can be a bit confusing, but no firearms are involved in the process! 

About a dozen of us gathered in the hot and humid street, among the acacias and palms, and the the high mud walls, where Tosha awaited us to give us the grand tour.

Tosha Tyran: Initially a mere meeting place and seasonal settlement for caravans from the Sahara desert, it became the center of the main African trade routes in the 12th century and at which time it also became part of the Mali Empire. In recent history France had Timbuktu colonized from 1893 until 1960. Mansa Musa I, considered the most important emperor of  Mali (1312 – 1337) the empire rose to its highest cultural and intellectual state and a huge unique University was build up during the rule of this open minded and fascinating emperor. 25.000 students could be accommodated and its library – one of the largest world wide boasted 400.000 to 700.000 books and manuscripts.

Thirza Ember: wow that's a lot! you wouldn't think there were that many people in the area to create that volume of potential students, they must have come from far away

Tosha Tyran: Indeed, and that in the 14th century. Mansa Musa was very open to all kinds of people and cultures. 

The city is a maze of narrow streets,
these carved doors are replicas of doors found in rl Timbuktu. 

Tosha Tyran:The city of Timbuktu is to this very day still mainly build of clay. This is due to the lack of stones.This material however needs constant reworking. For this, people climb up the facades of the buildings using the protruding woods as ladders. you can see those woods protruding in the big buildings. Pots of clay are handed up and the clay is smeared onto the outer walls. In addition there are some multi story houses made of neogene limestone, a way to build that probably to the city at the end of the 16th century. In 1988 UNESCO recognized Timbuktu as world cultural heritage.

Tosha took a moment to a tribute to an old friend and building partner Siberia Ilfreddopurifica, with whom she worked on many projects a few years ago. It was due to in part to him that she got the idea of making this sim.

Tosha Tyran: Siberia had a sim that represented one of the coldest places of the world, a town in Siberia... so I decided to build her the hottest town in the world, Timbuktu

Ayla Alvarez: did you travel to Timubuktu in RL?

Dings Digital: feels very immersive

Tosha Tyran: No, I have never been here.  I started to read loads and loads about this town - which I knew until then only as an expression for "lost in the nowhere"

Taarna Welles: Tosha, have many manuscripts and books been lost?

Tosha Tyran: When the islamic ISIS took over, they tried to burn all the books - with many they succeeded, but many people of Timbuktu saved books by hiding them at a huge risk of their own lives, saved books are now being reconstructed but of course - it is still a huge loss!

Star Ravenhurst: That is wonderful. Books should never be destroyed.

Thirza Ember: I read somewhere that in any case, the conditions of preservation of the oldest stuff was not very good, is that true?

Tosha Tyran: that is true, it is a very tedious work to bring them into conditions again

Taarna Welles: Even then, don't touch such old objects.

Ayla Alvarez: its so dangerous...I really want to go there, now...  google says, "If you choose to travel, research your destinations and get appropriate travel insurance"

Tosha Tyran: oh, and when you find an open door, feel free to look inside. those people that dont like to be disturbed, keep their doors shut :)

Worth taking time to do that, for many of the houses have details inside, including textiles and photographs, giving the visitor insights into this part of the world. It's just enough to give the flavor of the place without veering into an overly complex doll's house of a build, so the lag stays low while the immersivity is keps high.

Tosha Tyran: this is a nomad camp of the Tuareg, I shall tell you a little about them, ok?

Ayla Alvarez: they are famous, no?

Tosha Tyran: yes indeed.They are also called the blue people because they mostly wear blue clothes. Their origin is rather unclear. An estimated number of 2 million still live in Mali, Niger and Algeria, many of them still as traditional nomads in large tents made of sheep- or goat skins... here comes my favorite part about the Tuareg :)Tosha Tyran: Traditionally the Tuaregs society is matrilineal and a woman has many and strong rights.

In the Touareg camp

Tosha Tyran: 1. she is not veiled

 2. she never suffers genital mutilation

 3. she does not have to be a virgin at marriage

 4. she can have one or more boyfriends before her marriage

 5. she can decide to whom and when she gets married

 6. she can – as well as her husband – get a divorce

 7. she is – while married – the only wife of her husband

 8. when the man is traveling with the animals, she is free to invite guests into the tent.

 9. She owns the tents and the furnishing of the same

 10. she manages the property and the distribution of food

 11. she is the guardian of culture and tradition

 12. Her children inherit the possessions not of their father, but of her brother with whom they have close relationships.

Star Ravenhurst: That sounds like a safe place for women..mostly

Tina Bey: yes

Tosha Tyran: I think that is ever so great :) and for that the Tuareg women are known to be very proud and independent, and woe to the man that dares to touch them

Can you spot the micro-sized Alan Scot in this photo?

Thirza Ember: what about really really tiny women? (asking for a friend).... (the friend is Alan)

Forest Azure: i guess really really tiny women can have many tiny bf's

Tosha Tyran: lol Forest, I hope their boyfriends will be tiny....

Alan Scot: I'm just vertically challenged

Karsten Runningbear: What religion do the Tuareg have?

Tosha Tyran: they have some for me not clearly definable religion... a bit of islam, but soft, soft, a bit of some older religion, it seems a kind of a mix and they can well live without religion too, it seems. Now to the men: The men devote themselves to the breeding of cattle and the caravaning. They are often on the road for months. Under the rising islamic – hence patriarchal – influence many Tuareg tribes have switched to the patrilineal decent where as many others still adhere to the matrilineal tradition. Often mixed forms can be found now.

Alan Scot: they are excavating a pyramid -- a unique period when women had remarkable power. -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLtQfD3MZas

Tosha Tyran: yes. Alan. And though many Tuaregs now live in cities, the nomad lifestyle still prevails.  the life in the cities is probably more comfortable, and not all live from breeding cattle or camels,  so quite a number have given up the nomad life

Karsten Runningbear: but that people are happy too, maybe they don't want to live like us

Thirza Ember: Tosha's npcs don't lag the sim at all

Tosha Tyran: lightweight NPCs...  I should like to show you the place where it all began... all this Timbuktu city... when I had this huge bit of land I really didnt know what the heck to do with it, so I dug a hole, and the rest you can see

Thirza Ember: how much research did you do in the end about this? did it become a momentary obsession?

Tosha Tyran:  yes, it was an absolute obsession for about 1 year reading, building, changing things, I practically was at the pc 24/7

Ayla Alvarez: sounds like my schedule and I have no obsession

Taarna Welles: How long ago did you start?

Tosha Tyran: well, I began 2019/2020 maybe

Thirza Ember: I love it when you learn something about the real world, and can transmit it via the virtual

Star Ravenhurst: Yes, I didn't know about this culture until today. Very educational.

Karsten Runningbear: it has become wonderful, great work Tosha

Alan Scot: yes where can I read more about it?

Tosha Tyran: just look up Timbuktu in the internet, Tosha Tyran: you will find a lot of history, explanations and pictures as well

Star Ravenhurst: It is a very impressive build. Do  you have notecard givers with this info?

Taarna Welles: It's a beautiful build with a very interesting story.

Ayla Alvarez: it's a great build, Tosha :-)

From the dunes to the swamp we walked over to the part of the build representing the Niger river. 

Here Tosha has captured the lush vegetation so much in contrast with the arid dunes nearby, full of birds, watersnakes, not to mention the inevitable crocs and hippos.

Returning to the city, across the sand, we re-entered the maze of little streets that make this build, with its authentic colors and lively NPCs, to reach a part of the build that might seem incongruous - a music stage.

Tosha Tyran: This is a very traditional festival, or rather it was -  until the ISIS came. And now it is again, it's called  Festival au Désert, once a year in Timbuktu

Tosha Tyran: thanks to all of you for being here

Tina Bey: muy bello !!

Lavia Lavine: Thank you for having us Tosha

Taarna Welles: It's impressive as a region and story

Star Ravenhurst: It is an incredible achievement working with this landscape and color scheme. It is truly beautiful!

Dings Digital: I am impressed by this project

Forest Azure: great tour, Tosha! ty so much :)

Malburns Craftster: wonderful Tosha - plenty film too

HG Address: craft-world.org:8002/Timbuktu/