I've been interested for some time in going to the Festival Au Desert in Essakane, Mali. There are several tour operators that can arrange this, but it's hard to get much information about their reputations and reliability. (Most of those are local Malian agencies, with a few in London.)

But I've just seen a tour from a company I'm familar with that mostly specializes in textiles-oriented travel which includes the Festival on the Niger in Segou. I've not really considered that festival instead, but I'm not sure why I haven't.

Anybody here been to either or both and have any words of wisdom re: choosing amongst the various options?