Blogs from Djenné, Centre, Mali, Africa
March 6th 2011
IMAGES OF MALI.....DJENNE.....MUD TOWN OF DREAMS... On an island in the Bani River, accessed by ferry from the riverbank to the ancient mud town of Djenne (pronounced "Jenny"), we have arrived in my destination from childhood dreams... And a mud town it still is... Each year the Mud Mosque of Djenne, the largest banco or mud building in the world, requires repair...where mud has washed off in rain...and the mud artisans show their amazing skills...and remain in employment... But concrete, some think should change that... Unlike mud (baked in the sun mixed with straw or otherwise), concrete does not degrade or wash away in rain and is stronger...so some believe concrete is better than mud... But fortunately traditions and United Nations Heritage Listing has protected Djenne to remain a traditional and spectacular mud town. Welcome to ... read more
March 1st 2011
THE MUD MOSQUES OF MALI The Mud Mosque at Djenne captured my imagination from the pictures in books from my childhood...an exotic image that remained with me...but as I have now been there...the images are real and indelibly printed in my psyche... I photograhed as many Mud Mosques as I could as I danced through Mali. Mali is a predominately Muslim nation, so each village has a mosque. There is the occasional Christian mud church. However, as it does not erode in rain, concrete is being used in the construction of some village mosques, sometimes painted pink or light blue. There is pressure to replace mud with concrete...but there is opposition as mud artisans are an ancient traditional craft...and every village can make mud bricks if there is a pool of water nearby...and the expense is ... read more
February 28th 2011
FACES OF MALI...DJENNE TO DOGON COUNTRY BANDIAGARA FALAISE From the magic of the crossing of the Bani Rver to enter the mud town of Djenne...famous for its Mud Mosque...rising before dawn to catch the sunrise over this ancient town...into its bustling Monday market...it's what dreams are made of ... then to enter the Bandiagara escarpment and trek between Dogon villages...sleeping on mud roof tops...waking with a cliff on one side and braying donkeys and baobab trees on the other...rock, rock and more rock...dancing with the locals...that's what further dreams are made of...and becomes reality... Enjoy and Regards, Dancing Dave (who danced his way through Mali on his way to his Tuareg wedding at Timbuktu!!!) ... read more
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 ... read more
December 26th 2010
We headed off to visit Djenne and Dogon Country on Boxing day with Ian, Kirsten and Ryan – keeping in the kiwi tradition of road trips on Boxing Day and all that :-) We crammed all 5 of us into our Dogon guide’s car – Sori, a Dogon, who lives in Bamako and was going to take us up to Djenne and the Dogon Country and be our local guide throughout. After trying several patterns we found that it was best to have either Martin or Ian in the middle of the backseat with either myself or Kirsten crouched between, legs over the centre console, then someone either side of us and one in the front seat. Not the most comfortable of course but not that bad either – and saved taking a whole lot of ... read more
July 9th 2009
Well I’m in Djenne to see the market and the Mosque. I spent Saturday looking around Mopti with Anil. These would-be guides are very, very annoying! They really detract from the Mali experience. Bought a ticket to go to Djenne by boat. Stupidly I paid in advance because the next day the boat turned out to be bogus! Down 4000CFA. Oh well, after a long wait caught a bush taxi to Djenne. Met a guide named “John Travolta” (WTF!) but I agreed to let him give me a tour. He turned out to be honest and didn’t try to screw me, although I doubt his official licence. The town is entirely made of mud! Crazy! All-in-all Mali seems nice, but there are too many tourists and not enough money. This leads to many people trying to ... read more
May 5th 2008
Sorry about the lack of bicycle story from the last blog, we were encountering computer difficulties and in the mad dash to finish before our time ran out, I totally forgot about the cycling adventure. On our last day in Segou we hired bikes and imagined a full day of exploring the area on bikes - mountain bikes, as the roads are almost all sand. Once again, we forgot we were in Africa. The bikes arrive, and one is not bad at first glance, thick tires, sturdy frame, 21 gears. The second bike - for the girl - is straight out of 1970 - a 5-speed cruiser with narrow tires (flat we discovered) and a seat so low my knees almost hit my chin. After some broken French and sign language, the bike renter goes to ... read more
November 19th 2007
Next on our itinerary was the Monday Market in the city of Djenne. The city is famous for having the largest mud structure in the world (the mosque of course) and a very large market on Mondays. It was here that we've seen more tourists than we have anywhere in West Africa. Literally every tourist in Mali must have arrived in Djenne at the same time to see the Monday Market. To be quite honest, after wandering the market for a while, we were both a little disappointed in what the market had to offer. With all the hype surrounding it, we've been through much larger and better markets than this one elsewhere in West Africa (even in Mali). I suppose this is where we realise that we've been a bit spoiled by the places we've ... read more
October 2nd 2007
Whoever said roosters crow at the crack of dawn was a liar...they start cockadoodledooing around 4am and don't stop. After a breakfast of millet surprise, we repacked our bags and headed out of the campement. It turns out that it is tradition for people to sing upon leaving the campement in Ende, so we gamely started with "The Circle of Life" from Lion King (Disney was the only thing we all sort of agreed upon). Just outside the building, though, we ran into about half the village children waiting for us, so we got a bit flustered. We tried some Red Hot Chilli Peppers and showtunes while giving them high-fives and waving. We were all prepared to trek the 8km to the next village before it got too hot, but Salif told us he had arranged ... read more
