Araouane or Arawan is a small village in the Malian part of the Sahara Desert, lying 243 km (151 mi) north of Timbuktu on the caravan route to the salt-mining centre of Taoudenni.

[2] The French explorer René Caillié passed through Araouane in 1828 on his journey from Timbuktu across the Sahara Desert to Morocco.

[4] He left Timbuktu with a caravan of 600 camels[5] transporting gold, slaves, ivory, gum arabic, ostrich-feathers and cloth.

It is the entrepot of the salt of Toudeyni [Taoudenni], which is exported to Sansanding on the banks of the Dhioliba [River Niger].

[8] The author and adventurer Ernst Aebi invested a significant amount of money and time into the project of regenerating this village.

[9] The local NGO "Araouane Action" and the Italian multicultural association "Les Cultures" are active in the village and in 2005 constructed a school block containing two classrooms.

[10] The surrounding desert is completely barren and the harmattan wind blows sand that accumulates against the walls of the buildings.

The rainfall is too little to permit any agriculture and the village is dependent on the caravan trade which nowadays is restricted to the transport of salt blocks from the mines at Taoudenni, 420 km to the north.