Timbuktu Today

TIMBUKTU, MALI - SEPTEMBER 12: Ismael Diadie Haidara, a scholar, philosopher and custodian of the Fondo Ka Ti manuscript library, Timbuktu, 12 September 2009. Ismael can trace his family back to Andalucia in Spain which they were forced to flee from Muslim Persecution in the days of the Catholic church's purges of Islam. Ismael's ancestor wrote a famous manuscript called the Tarik Al Fatah, a history of the Timbuktu region in the 15th and 16th century. This is regarded as one of the most important manuscripts to emerge in the recent interest in the written history of Africa centered in Timbuktu. Ismael spends his time on the library, studying philosophy and also in his village on the Niger River close to Timbuktu. He is unusual amongst Timbuktu intellectuals as he is also an environmentalist and has planted over 1000 trees in his village and plans to plant 9000 more. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage)