Dogon

After checking out Mopti (which has a mud mosque to rival Djenne’s if you don’t have the time or the inclination towards uncomfortable transport to go to Djenne itself), we headed to the true “Crown Jewel of West Africa”, as far as we could tell, Dogon Country.

The Dogon people live among the cliffs that stretch for 200km more or less from Douentza to Bankass. They retreated there with the coming of Islam in an attempt to avoid conversion. They moved into hard to reach crannies in the cliff face, replacing the earlier Tellum people who had lived in such ridiculously inaccessible spots among the cliffs that the Dogons believe to this day that the Tellum could fly. Without the vines that likely made those higher cliff dwellings possible in more lush times, it is easy to see where they would get that idea. Most of the Dogon now live atop or bellow the actual cliff. We spent a few days hiking in the area and never got tired of the amazing landscape.


Our days went like this: eat, walk, eat, nap, walk, eat, sleep. On our very first day we were pinned down by a fantastic sandstorm. Luckily, we were already up in a deserted cliff dwelling and took shelter there. Not surprisingly, four kids from New England had never hidden from a sandstorm in an abandoned cliff dwelling before. You don’t get much more foreign than that. Before and after the storm were fantastic views and during the storm had an eerie quality all its own.



The striking vistas and freakish Dogon architecture could have kept us enthralled for weeks, not just days.







There were some spots that were a little dicey for anyone afraid of heights.






During rains we had to hide until it was dry enough to scramble up the slick rocks of the cliff. Often, the rains were so heavy we had to ford streams that would not have been there at any other time of the year. In one of the most surreal moments of the trip, the four of us forded a small river only to be approached by a crocodile as we put our footwear back on. It swam right up to the edge of the water where we had just exited. Had we known beforehand that there were crocs we’d probably still be standing on the other side waiting for dry season! A few moments later another crocodile swam towards us, this one albino. Very cool.

(Click on the photo and try to spot the white croc)