Mali - Part 2 (Dogon country)

South of the Niger River is a land of rugged, red escarpments, mostly rock covered plateaus, and where water is available patches of dark green where small onions are grown for sale. This is Dogon country, home of the Dogon people who live both above and below the escarpment.

Here we spent 3 days walking along the base of the escarpment, through villages where cars are rarely seen and donkey carts are the vehicle of burden. Occasional motorbikes provide an alternative form of transport, but walking along sandy tracks is still the most common.

Climbing down the escarpment to the floor below was a challenge for those like me who don't like heights. It was a very rocky, steep path but was fortunately shaded most of the way.
As we walked we explored the villages, their mud houses, conical-topped granaries and the cliff-top remnants of the earlier inhabitants - the Tellem, a pygmy race who the Dogon replaced. The Tellem built their cemeteries high up on the cliff faces, where they can still be seen today.Dogon culture is best known for their masks and mask dances. These relate to their beliefs that the earth, moon and sun were created by a divine being. Even stranger is the fact that they believed that the star Sirius was actually 3, long before it was proven to be the case by scientists. Fetishes and sacrifices are still believed in today. Here is a traditional meeting house.
I enjoyed the opportunity to see life as it is today, a very hard life I must say. Water is obtained from central wells and carried, cooking is mostly done over charcoal braziers and women and children always seem to be carrying something on their heads.

In one village, I got the opportunity to briefly see a Christmas day church service in a Christian church.In another village I got to see their Christmas celebration, a village get together with singing and dancing. Round and round they went in an anticlockwise direction. some men took a break to drink millet beer (brewed by the women of course) from a communal gourd bowl.
Improvements are slowly occuring, but mostly at the initiative of the Dogon people themselves. Their wells now have hand operated water pumps courtesy of the Japanese, while below is a school built with money provided by the Dutch.

Mali - Part 1

With limited internet access in Mali, my blog has had to wait until I returned. In fact, only once did I go on the internet during my 2 weeks in Mali, but I didn't have time to have withdrawal symptoms. Mali is a country of variety, harsh landscapes, friendly people and boring but healthy food. Even restaurant has the same eight items on their menu!

On first sight it is hard to believe Bamako is a capital city. With mostly dirt streets, sheds that double as shops and a tiny airport where waiting is the norm. It took half an hour for our boarding passes to be printed out on departure!

However, amongst the dust and mayhem is a place of calm, the National Museum. It features traditional masks, ancient pottery and brilliantly coloured textiles in relatively modern buildings surrounded by trees and grass. Even a waterfall is at the entrance.

Leaving Bamako, it is straight into village life. Piles of striped watermelons beside the road, girls and women rushing up to the car windows to sell fruit, drinks or food whenever we stopped and petrol for sale in all sorts of glass bottles up to 1.5 litres in size. Then there are the markets where the parking lot is full of cattle and donkeys and the carts they pull. A man sews on a treadle sewing machine while women sit on the ground behind piles of oranges, bananas and tomatoes. A sweet smell emanates from huge cans of honey, fresh from the artificial beehives we see high up in the trees. Just in case sleep is taking over, the ever-present speed humps are a reminder that it is yet another village.
One of Mali's most well known attractions in the world's largest mud mosque in Djenne. Of course, as a non-Moslem I cannot enter it but it does form a stunning backdrop for the weekly Djenne market.

Listed as a World Heritage site, Djenne is a maze of mud houses bordering winding alleys, some with putrid grey drains down the middle. Even basic plumbing is still catching up here. This lack of colour in the town buildings contrasts with the vivid hues and striking geometric designs of the women's clothes, including scarfs. Market day is an ideal time to see this.
This is just a taste of what is to come.