The current project aims to reconstruct in high detail the hydrological and climate conditions that characterized the transition into the African Humid Period (ca. 8-5.5 ka) in the southern margins of the Sahara desert. For this purpose, we aim to analyze a 15 m-long core record retrieved from Lake Fati, near Timbuktu in Mali. The site is well located at the margin of the desert belt, but also concurrently under the seasonal fluctuations of the African monsoon front. The project utilizes a set of proxies obtained from the sedimentary archive, aiming to study the impact of northwards migrations of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) at millennial time scales. Insights from this project provide valuable tools for better comprehending the impact of sharp hydrological transitions and how these impact the equilibrium of the natural system. Moreover, sharp transitions in the hydrological conditions have had major influences on early societies, by influencing their sustainability through time.