The Festival Au Desert is held every year in the North of Mali, usually in Essakane, two hours from Timbuktu. It is all about touareg dances, poetries, camel rides and games.

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.

A French language documentary entitled Le Festival au Désert was filmed at the 2003 festival. Performers include Tartit, Oumou Sangaré, Lo'Jo, Tinariwen, Robert Plant with Justin Adams, Blackfire, Django, and Ali Farka Touré. The DVD contains English subtitles, and an audio CD of the concert, Festival in the Desert, was also released.