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Published: January 12th 2011
Djenne (pronounded Jenny) was the place that everyone was anticipating and we were anxious to get there - but the drive there and the l-o-n-g lunch break just seemed to drag the day out. We were nearly there and discovered that we have to cross the Niger River by ferry - and there was a line up of vehicles and people............but each trip across the river has been a real experience.......switch into African time and just enjoy.......we were soo close that we could see the town but we had to wait for our turn on the ferry and make our way through the barrage of trinket sellers......needless to say that we have purchased quite a few items and they all enjoy the opportunity to bargain with you.
Djenne was founded in the 13th century and is now a moderately important agricultural town but it best known for its World Heritage mosque and unique architecture. Importantly it is on the tourist circuit but a lot of effort has gone into maintaining and preserving the town and its buildings.
The river is still used extensively for laundry, washing dishes and cars, etc ...... foreign aid has enabled the town to have
Loading onto the ferry
It took a few run ups to actually get this cart onto the ferry.several pumps and water pipes to some areas of the town but I think this water has a cost attached to it - so a lot of people still use the river. So river views comprise of lots of groups of women doing their washing up and laundry along the banks of the river. I am always surprised how the clothes remain so clean when they are lain out on the banks of the river, thrown across trees, etc which aren't exactly clean at all.
We had another local guide here to show us around and he was great and had the advantage of local knowledge........getting inside the mosque, which roof top had the best views of the mosque, visit the local woman's group who make mud-painted cloth,just strolling around the streets, local architecture, etc. We have been inviting our guides to eat with us all along the way and our Djenne local guide joined us for dinner and tried to eat chicken with a knife and fork - he tried very hard and unfortunately some of his friends saw him eating with us and were teasing him for using "white man's hands" - thankfully he saw the funny
side of it all.
The Djenne Mosque is the largest mud structure in the world - and probably the most beautiful. It stands 18.5m tall and dominates Djenne's central square. This square plays host to a weekly market each Monday and we timed it perfectly to experience the market. The present day mosque dates from 1907 and its architecture is classically Sudanese.
The three miarets are each more than 10m high and along with the rest of the structure are riddled with bunches of wooden sticks. The ends of these bits of wood sticking out of the building do serve a purpose, not only as decoration, but as scaffolding when repairs are necessary. Each year before the start of the rainy season (about April) the people of Djenne volunteer to resurface the mosque with a new layer of banco (mud) by hand.
The whole mosque is raised 3m above the level of the marketplace and the six steps at the main (northern) entrance symbolise the transition from the profane to the sacred. We were lucky enough to have a very quick peak inside the mosque - for a price obviously - great black market trade going on
around the mosque...there is a cost to get up onto the roof of the houses that have the best view of the mosque as well - but well worth the cost.
The market is a mixture of food, wood, clothing from China, blankets, jewerley - almost anything you can think of. Some of the market stalls move constantly from village to village as markets are held each day of the week somewhere. We met the faboulous Fatima who sold jewerley - what a great lady - big smile, friendly and we are all best friends after all the girls in our group bought up big - she was so excited that she just left all her goods on the ground and went to share her good fortune with her friends.
Before dinner Mike and I headed out into the market to buy clothes and blankets for our camping expedition into the Dogon country - and just after I bought the unglist shirt in the country a guy from Bamako rang to say that he had our luggage - great excitement....still unsure how we would actually get our bags - but at least they were in country. We had
spent several hours in discussion with the travel insurance people that morning trying to work out how we could get Michael's medication - but thankfully we didn't have to follow it all up.
We visited the Hotel Djenne Djenno for sunset drinks - they make this amazing cocktail - ginger juice with either rum or gin - what better way to watch the sun set over the mosque. We had planned to have dinner there but then moved onto another hotel for dinner and entertainment by local musicians. Our guide has been great providing us with all the information about local culture, music, etc and really gets our sense of humour as well - so it is a lot of fun with him. We have nicknamed him No. 1 but when he doesn't come through for us we demote him to No. 7 (which is the number he wears when he plays soccer). A comment that he made to us has stayed with us throughout this trip - "leave some photos for the Japanese....."
We spent 2 nights in Djenne and it was great...my most moving memory was when our guide took us down to the river -
that we had crossed the day earlier - to watch the people arriving for the market. I thought I had stepped onto a movie set - soo many people crossing the river with their goods to sell at the market along with Djenne locals using the river as they do each day. I just had to sit and watch the boats arriving loaded with fire wood and all sorts of goods. The women were dressed in their Sunday best for arrival onto the river bank and then changed into working clothes and got down to the business of unloading the boats. Later in the day you can see people dressed in their best again visiting and taking tea with friends - a very busy day in Djenne.
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Patto
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Glad that your trip is giving you a great experience. The stories are great. However I do not know whether or not you have been updated with events in Toowoomba over the last week or so??/ There was a flash flood from constant heavy rain and the area of CBD is a disaster .... devestated from the water and some people dead and or washed away and still missing. If you can you need to eyeball the news websites to get the latest. Sorry to spoil your thoughts and holiday. Regards Patto