The Gao market is the commercial centre of the town and a window into the crossroads culture of the eastern Sahel. Traders from across the region converge here — Tuareg camel herders selling leather goods, Songhai farmers with millet and dried fish, Fulani women with milk and butter, and merchants carrying desert goods from further north.
You can find desert sandals, indigo-dyed cloth, Tuareg silver jewellery, and the occasional antique sword. Haggling is expected and prices for tourist goods are high by Malian standards. The food section sells grilled meat, fried fish from the Niger, and millet porridge. The market is most active in the mornings.