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Background: The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in 1991 with a transitional government and in 1992 when Mali's first democratic presidential election was held. After his reelection in 1997, President Alpha KONARE continued to push through political and economic reforms and to fight corruption. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, he stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE.

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By johnnyrivers
May 1st 2009

The Mali Finale! part 6- Sevare & Bandiagara Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

The Road to Sevare

Our mission for Saturday was to merely make it back to Mopti…judging from past experiences, that was all we could feasibly accomplish… and plan our next move from there. Earlier that week we had gotten the phone number of a reputable Dogon Country guide from the Peace Corp volunteers we had met on the bus to Ouagadougou. While we were still in Mopti, waiting to get to Timbuktu, I had called him to schedule a meeting time and place. Thus our plan was to get back to Mopti, and then find transport to Bandiagara, the location he had chosen to meet [View Full Entry]

By petcul
November 26th 2008

Travels with a Dakar Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

215a Ferry from Djenne IMG 0005

Tuesday 11th November I leave Djenne in the early morning and recross the river Bani on the ferry. I travel through rice fields across the causeway to join the main road to Gao to arrive in Mopti late morning. Mopti is also surrounded by rice fields. In between, yes, you've guessed it. Millet and cattle! The good surface continues but, as it's only 120 miles, I don't have time to get bored. There is also a lot of activity on and at the side of the road. Herds of cattle are being driven to water. There is an endless stream of [View Full Entry]

By petcul
November 26th 2008

Travels with a Dakar Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

219 Dogon Plateau1 IMG 0016

Thursday 13th November I am now a regular and pay an early visit to the cybernet cafe to find out what has happened to my fellow travellers. Geoff is in Mopti and might call today to Sevare. Mark is making progress and should be in Sevare tomorrow and Migo is still stuck in Ziguinchor. As time is starting to run out for me I decide to head into Dogon country, one of the main reasons for coming this far. I pack the bike and am about to say goodbye to Kay and Amadou when Geoff arrives. He's had Mopti. Too much [View Full Entry]

By pnltravels
May 13th 2008

Pays Dogon - Dogon Country Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

Village of Djiguibombo

Pays Dogon. Dogon Country. Beautiful. Spectacular. Surprising. Our trek into the Dogon Country started early from Bandiagara with a drive to Djiguibombo (delightfully pronounced Jiggy-boom-bo). After a brief tour of the town we started our walk to the edge of the Falaise de Bandiagara (Bandiagara Escarpment) and then down the escarpment to the plains below. Our group of two had grown to four with the addition of Yo and Mama. Yo is from France and Mama is from Burkina Faso. They speak almost no English and we speak spotty French. Our guide, Lac, helps us to translate sometimes, but [View Full Entry]

By nat_vallee
January 15th 2008

Mali trip part 1 : The Dogon Country Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

Waiting for Ouaga-Mopti Bus

Alright.. as Courtney and I took about 600 pictures during the whole trip and there are just so many of them, I decided to divide the Mali trip in Half so that I could put as many pictures as possible for you to see and also, so I wont get pissed off with the slow connection and just go a crappy job. Cause yeah, really, just to post this blog entry takes me a whole afternoon. So much for working enh! But what can you do! So this entry follow the Christmas one. We left on December 26th, had a hard [View Full Entry]

By MrBradders
December 28th 2007

Good bye Mali Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

Well, What can i say about Mali other than what a wonderful little country it truly is! Yes, it may be one of the poorest in the world, with a sadly high infant mortality rate and low life expectancy, but the people are friendly beyond their means and make the place what it is... truly wonderful. To start with lets just get rid of any bad things you hear about Timbuktu... if Bob Geldof said "is this it" when he visited then he obviously didn't bump into any friendly Toureg. We were fortunate enough (as it turned out) to arrive in [View Full Entry]

By Viajerong Pinoy
December 25th 2007

A DARN GOOD DOGON CHRISTMAS Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

TIMBUKTU

From Sevare we drove on 4WD trucks to take us to Timbuktu, 7 hours it took for yus to get there an hour on paved road then the dirt tracks started, quite bumpy, I got bruises on my legs as I was seated at the very back and the space is cramped. There was a lot of checkpoints quite annoying but the drivers are used to it and did not mind it,we got to a point where we need to cross the river to get accross the road to Timbuktu, as soon as we gotto the other side the roads got [View Full Entry]

By Kate in Africa
September 30th 2007

Dogon Country, here we come! Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

chaos at the river's edge

After a quick breakfast of bread, strawberry jelly, and tea, we repacked our backpacks and threw them in our crowded sept-place. We were on our way to Dogon Country! According to Lonely Planet, it is in the top 10 places to see before you die, so we were all quite excited. We were driving from Sévaré to Bandiagara to Kani-Kombolé and then hiking for the next three days. Salif told us we were going to be switching drivers before we got to Bandiagara, but we weren't exactly sure why. It turns out you have almost no choice but to switch drivers [View Full Entry]

Salif giving the reassuring smile, and Sarah is not buying it

the whole group on the way to Kani-Kombolé

By Marcoelitaliano
July 29th 2007

Spot Me, Greet Me, Hassle Me, Guide Me Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara

Yesterday... Today

I got my first taste of Mali in Banjul, Gambia, while trying to localize the relevant consulate. This had turned out to be a decaying shack from whose balcony hung the remaining shreds of what must have been once a flag. Inside the courtyard, written in chalk on the wall, there were a name, a phone number and the invitation to call. Had I been elsewhere I wouldn’t have given credit to what I was actually seeing, but in Africa, I’ve learnt it by now, impossible is nothing. So I just found a phone booth and called and -most surreal of [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Africa » Mali » Dogon Country » Bandiagara