http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Mali , Dogon Country en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:37:11 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:37:11 UTC Thursday 13th NovemberI 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-348843.html Tuesday 11th NovemberI 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 i http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-348839.html Monday 10 NovemberIn the cool of the morning you dig four holes in the earth put in your poles tie up an awning put up your table and your are ready for business. Even at 0700 the Monday market in front of the Djenne mosque is alive with trucks traders tourists and very worried sheep. Armed with the camera I shoot anything that moves. I'll never have the time to process a fraction of these.J http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Mopti/blog-347880.html Saturday 08th NovemberAfter a coffee and an indifferent bun at the overpriced patisserie we leave Kayes. The dust is just as bad in the morning as it is in the evening. We cross the Senegal river which is alive with activity. People washing small piroques getting ready for the day it seems like all human life is there. If it's not on the river it's on the bridge which starts with a sand trap.The http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Mopti/blog-347287.html first of all and i hope not to deceive anyone here im still alive and fairly healthy. that being said where were we...oh yes dogon country. I spent four wonderful days in that wonderful land out of time with yakou a real raster and possibly the best guide you can find in mali for the dogon land and now someone I count among my friends. and the four days where wonderful.we walked a lot we sw http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-317563.html Pays Dogon. Dogon Country. Beautiful. Spectacular. Surprising.Our trek into the Dogon Country started early from Bandiagara with a drive to Djiguibombo delightfully pronounced Jiggyboombo. 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-275777.html Sohellip here it goes and continueshellip about a month later Sorry.. Irsquom trying to catch up on the lack of communication hereSo.. after the whole Dogon Country thing.. we decided to take a relaxing day off in Bandiagara at a hotel a bit out of town. We had the biggest pile of laundry ever to wash Good thing for us.. we met a Ghanian Burkinabe woman.. who was all excited to meet us an http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Mopti/blog-237112.html 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 e http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-236163.html WellWhat can i say about Mali other than what a wonderful little country it truly isYes 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-230990.html 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 itwe got to a point where we need to cross the river to get http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-228531.html Following Timbuktu we made the drive back to Sevare near Mopti with the repaired truck along the same road responsible for the damage there is only one road to Timbuktu. We made it without any major consequences this time.From Sevare we drove to the village of Bandiagara and onwards to the village where we left the truck once again to start our 3 day trek through Dogon country. To quote Wiki http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-221744.html After a quick breakfast of bread strawberry jelly and tea we repacked our backpacks and threw them in our crowded septplace. 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 Svar to Bandiagara to KaniKombol and then hiking for the next three days.Salif told us we were going http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-208821.html 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 wouldnrsquot have given credit to what I http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-197943.html Thanks for all your messages sorry that the weather in the UK is not good its really hot and sunny here We are of course still having a brilliant time. Christmas day we spent in a campsite near the small town of Bandiagara in Dogon Country 50 people and one toilet We did a huge cooked breakfast without the meat a light lunch then a massive dinner. We'd bought a pig and a goat that the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-192522.html In early July I took a fourday trip to Mali with Omar Christine Will and Rhadika. From Ouaga we took a bus north to Ouahigouya where we piled into a vansized bush taxi headed to Koro Mali. North of Ouahigouya the paved road gave way to dirt and the landscape became progressively drier the vegetation more sparse. The three boarder checkpoints consisted of small cement buildings andor t http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-186140.html SegouDogon CountryTom Griffith It doesn't rain much in Mali but when it does it pours. In the past week we have seen three big storms several dramatic duststorms and sadly our first floods and flood victims. But more on that later... The rains first hit last Sunday while we were on our way from Segou to Djenne and the downpour caught us in the middle of a transport change in the middl http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-178866.html Vanaf Timboektoe gaan we weer terug naar Sevar slapen een paar nachtjes bij Willem en gaan richting de Dogon vallei. Er was eens volk dat zich Dogon noemde8230...Zo zou elk verhaal over de Dogon moeten beginnen. De Dogon is een volk dat leeft in de Dogon vallei een door UNESCO beschermt gebied in het zuidoosten van Mali. In de 15e eeuw trokken de Dogon naar het gebied wat nu Dogon vallei h http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-178425.html If I pass someone I know on the street I might say hello ayup or alright the person would probably reply with the same then we would either stop for a chat or keep walking. In Dogon Country it is a little different. A quick greeting between the Dogon goes like this aga po good morning oh yes oh sewa how are you sewa fine oh mano sewa how are the family sewa fine oh gar http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-165933.html I didn't go to Timbuktu Everyone I spoke to said it was disappointing and it is a very long journey to get to from Mopti. Although the journey itself is the highlight. Instead I chose to go to Bankass which is one of the bridgehead towns for the Dogon county. It was on my way towards the Burkino Faso border and I thought that a Dogon Cultural Festival was more important and interesting tha http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bankass/blog-4809.html Some places are tourist honey pots for a good reason. The Dogon country is one of Mali's tourist honey pots. It deserves its status. The villages of the Dogon people are clustered around picture postcard scenery a remote escarpment that was easy to defend from rivals. The Dogon people also have a unique culture. It's a must see destination best done by walking from village to village. This http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/blog-4487.html