Fort de Médine

Médine was built in 1855 on the upper Senegal river as the French pushed inland, and two years later it was besieged for three months by the forces of El Hadj Umar Tall before a relief column arrived, which made it one of the more consequential episodes in the French advance into the interior. The fort, a warehouse, a station building and workers' housing survive in various states beside the river and the old railway line.

What you actually see

• The fort - the 1855 structure on the riverbank, now largely ruin.
• The siege history - the three-month blockade of 1857 and its outcome.
• The station and warehouse - the buildings from the railway and trading period.
• The Senegal river - the water the fort was placed to command.

When to go

November to February is the cool dry season. March to May is extremely hot in the Kayes region, among the hottest inhabited places anywhere. The rains run June to September.

Honest expectations

The buildings are unconsolidated and deteriorating fast. There is little interpretation. Kayes in the hot season is genuinely punishing.

Nearby

Kayes is southeast, and Kita is east.