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Nov 13
I am now in Mopti, Mali. It took a couple of days to cross over into Mali and recover from a cold before starting a 7 day hike in the Dogon country with Mike and Sarah from England. The temperature here is about 36 degrees which means we get up at 6 and walk until about 10.30am. Then its all day sitting in the shade before usually a few more km after 3.30pm.

Mali

Stevemonty
2005-09-23 19:07:24

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Nov 13
I am now in Mopti, Mali. It took a couple of days to cross over into Mali and recover from a cold before starting a 7 day hike in the Dogon country with Mike and Sarah from England. The temperature here is about 36 degrees which means we get up at 6 and walk until about 10.30am. Then its all day sitting in the shade before usually a few more km after 3.30pm.

We are following the Bandiagara escarpment, an extremely long and high red cliff face. Around which the Dogon people have been living since the 11C. Before then the pygmy Telem people lived in mud built caves high in the cliff, they must have been excellent rock climbers.
Some memorable experiences include listening to the echo of village life below emmanating from the cliffs like ghosts. Drinking millet beer from a calabash under a tree with the men after a Dogon market at night. Eating too much cous cous for the health of ones own tastebuds. Walking through incredible pathways in the cliff that remind me of the mountains near Alice Springs with Baobab trees below which are as much part of the nature here in the Sahel as the Dogon people themselves.
I then spent a couple of days in Djenne, one the oldest places in West Africa, mainly to see the Mosque which is also the largest mud building in the world. When its not market day it really quite a small sleepy place. It is only about 80km away but it took 6 hours to get there, with 2 hours waiting for the beat up Peugot 504 to fill up with 10 people. An excruciatingly slow but safe journey then an hour or so wait to catch the ferry across the river Beni.
Nov 17
Arrived safely in Timbuktu by boat in 2 days. Its quite a sleepy town with sand creeping in on most of the streets. I am travelling with Karel, Herman & Karen from Belgium and on Monday we are going on an organised camel trip until Friday evening. I have bought a Tuareg indigo head scarf for travel in the desert and now have a substantial beard.
The boat trip was ...