So apparently Timbuktu was a real city in Mali Africa, it was actually a pretty important trading hub a while back https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu
I listened to an interview with an author who’d written a book about going to Timbuktu for a haircut- it had spawned out of a family joke. sounds like itd be an interesting read. https://www.amazon.com/Timbuktu-Haircut-Journey-through-Africa/dp/1620875675
I first heard of it when one of the characters in Adrian Mole's Diaries (great book series by Sue Townsend so funny and moving at the same time) was writing letters to her (assumed to be an illegitimate) son in Timbuktu which caused tons of gossip in the local post office.