Mali
July 2004
Then, Dominic, two of his friends and I took an all-day bus ride topped off with a midnight taxi to reach the edges of Dogon Country, where we hiked from Smurf-like village to Smurf-like village in the parching heat. The girls returned to Bamako and Dominic and I continued to the ancient trading town of Mopti, where goods arrive by road and by river. You can buy slabs of salt that had been laboriously mined, then carried on camel caravans across the Sahara to Timbuktu and on pirogues to Mopti, from where it would continue its journey through West Africa.
From Mopti, we headed to the ancient mud town of Djenne, which rises like a mirage from the arid plains of south-central Mali. Djenne is home to the largest mud mosque in the world. The town's narrow winding streets and high walls give it a medieval feel. On Mondays, Djenne comes alive with a market that draws people of all types and trades, dressed in their finest attire...
With Dominic and his host family in Bamako
From atop the cliffs of Dogon Country
Modern homes and storage sheds in Dogon Country
Walking in a rare cool patch in Dogon Country
Look closely at the cliffs and you will see that the crevaces are packed with old mud dwellings abandoned some 700 years (Think Anasazis in Mesa Verde, Colorado)
Erin, Alessandra, and myself atop the Dogon cliffs
Long wait for a crowded taxi from Mopti to Djenne
Old Mopti
The famed mosque of Djenne. This is reputedly the largest mud mosque in the world. The version standing now is the third iteration of the mosque, built in the early 1900's and resurfaced with mud each year as a community effort
Only Muslims may enter the mosque. Shown is one of the entrances; people from different trades use different entrances.
Cloth at the Monday market at Djenne
Rooftops in Djenne
Note the keyhole window above this store. This style is typical of the Maroccains, and are to allow the women to look out at the street without being seen.
This little boy wouldn't let me pass until I took a photograph of him with his wares!
I believe this is the house of the town chief of Djenne. The two columns flanking the door show that he has two wives. The seven points above the door show that he has seven children. The shapes of the fallic posts at the corner of his house indicate that the man and the woman share the power in that household.
Goats hiding with us from the rain. We were returning on foot from a distant village across the vast arid plains, and were suddenly caught in a dust storm that turned into a rare drenching rain. We were fortunate to be approaching a cluster of mud huts and found this house empty.
The wind starting to rouse the plains....
...After the storm