Leaving Timbuktu

They left the campement as early as they could and reached the port a bit after 8 the next morning. Unfortunately there were trucks and buses ahead of them and they did not manage the 2^nd ‘bac’ of the day. Then started a long 2-hour wait in the sun.

It seems that most of the children and adults had understood that it would be useless to keep pestering them for something and left them alone in their wait for the barge.

All manner of activities were going on in the village attached to the port. In short, people were just going about their business. The passage to the other bank of the river was also part of the day-to-day business, not a struggle like at Rosso or at Barra.

Once they were on the Douentza road, they all concluded that they would have to spend the night in Douentza itself since there is no better road – it was this same bad dirt road back.

They found the Campement Dogon and rented a room there while the other 2 cars settled as best they could in the rather muddy parking of the place. That evening Elismé managed to make a cottage pie for dinner. There was air-con in the room and they managed to spend a quiet night.

Entering Dogon country

On the scenic route

Hamma, the manager of Campement Dogon, told them of a scenic road to Bandiagara, the main town in Dogon country. This is where they headed after filling the car and having their coffee and biscuits. He talked about a ‘piste améliorée’ and indeed it was.

It started by being a nicely graded dirt road and from place to place became paved, and then it was back into dirt road. It felt as if we were driving in a game park. The Dogon living in these parts live in mud brick houses, they also have nice sandstone schools. The place is very ‘tropical’. They are more known for their cliff dwellings. We could not take the road that passes by these cliffs since it was rainy season.

Around the 11^th century, the Dogon arrived in these parts to flee from Islamic conversion. They drove the Tellem people out of these cliffs and settled there themselves. By now quite a few have converted to islam or Christianity but many still follow the ancestral practices. This place would be the delight of anthropologists.

Plains from above

rock formation

Then we climbed, up paved roads, onto ridges where the plains could be seen. The colour contrast was quite nice up there, along with the rock formation. They stopped by a baobab and some intricate rock formations to have a snack. In the tree, the locals had put some beehives.

Crocs in the street

We went into the village of Borko and met with the lady Mayor there. This is also a Dogon village where they cohabit with crocodiles. There is a stream that passes in the village and a multitude of crocodiles circulate in these waters, and the irrigation channels around the rice paddies at all times. The totem of the Dogon people is the crocodile; they believe that when their people were roaming the area, fleeing from Islamic conversion, crocodiles showed them where water was to be found. Since then they do not kill crocodiles, and the crocs do not attack them. At least they say so!

Some of them had their passports stamped with the Borko stamp and they contributed to the coffers by paying to see the crocodiles fed. Just the day before the crocs had been fed, so the feeding was only perfunctory, no frenzy.

When we reached Bandiagara, they found the place they wanted to camp in. Togona hotel and camping: a nice enough setup on the Mopti road, a bit out of town, built in the style of the area, a bit run down like most facilities here but adequate.

It was agreed that we would stay here for 2 nights, giving time to sort out more car issues and doing day visits into deeper Dogon country. Coen wanted to have a nap and then go investigate what spare parts he could get in town. The others chose to go off and see what they see.

A rainstorm was brewing, darks clouds were looming on the horizon and thunder could be heard when they started out for town. They got followed by ‘guides’ and all sorts who wanted to sell them things. The one guy assured them that he had a shop where they could find spare parts but then it turned out that his ‘brother’ was the one in charge of the shop and had to be called. Then the so-called brother had to go fetch the part – there was no shop to be seen!

In the end Coen did get the part he was looking for and they had to bargain it down quite considerably but it was still expensive. The market did not produce anything worth buying for that evening’s dinner nor did the small grocery stores.

When we got back to camp, the others were back too and rain drops had started falling. Elismé was adamant that the rainstorm was passing away from town but a bit later it did come down on them.

Dinner was prepared under the awnings of the cars while it rained and after the rain they set the table and had dinner. A quick cool shower in their open-air bathroom and they were ready for bed. Electricity came on at around 18h30, the ceiling fan was working. The rain, however, had cooled the evening quite nicely but they still put the fan on to ‘clear the air’.

It was a pretty dark night, it was the end of the moon cycle, the Eid new moon should be visible soon.

The next morning Coen had to work on the Land Rover’s brakes and then on the Land Cruiser’s. The others were off with a guide to visit some more Dogon settlements. They first went to draw money at the one and only ATM in town with no success. Then they worked on the brakes. It took a while and Coen worked diligently. The part he got was for a left hand drive car so he had to do some modifications.

Once more they went to try the ATM but with no further success. They chose to have lunch at Hotel La Falaise where they were told wi-fi was available. Sure enough, they were given the code for the network and ordered chicken nanji danda with rice and the local grapefruit drink.

It was a tasty chicken stew with vegetables (but only potatoes were available that day), it had a definite taste of cloves. The chicken was rather scrawny compared to the SA ones but the dish was enough for two.

Village seen from above

Songo village street

After lunch, they got the cameras from the room and headed for the village of Songo where they were told that there was rock art. The road there is well indicated and not far from where they were staying.

It is a very nicely set up village between three mountains. It is made up of mainly mud brick dwellings and their attached ‘granaries’ along with mosques in the midst. There is a ‘campement’ of sorts: a quaint sandstone place with rooms. They now have their own school where children learn the local language. They are lacking in a multitude of learning paraphernalia: pencils, slates, copy books etc.

After paying the village tax, we appointed a village guide to take us to see the rock paintings. According to him, these date from the 12^th century and have been renewed every 3 years during the period of circumcision. The first of these is the crocodile, the totem of the Dogon people.

Mountains around the village

Then there is the place where all the families keep their secrets as the guide put it; it is also the place where the circumcisions take place. There, on the rock face of the mountain there are a multitude of paintings in white, black and red. At the base of these paintings is a painting depicting the five main families of Songo: the village chief, the Hogon who are land owners, the ‘lawyers’ who deal with disputes, the ‘medicine’ people and the griots who sing and tell the stories of the people.

Dogon rock paintings - family 'tree'

It seems that the African woman is not allowed up to that area and that whether she is born in Africa or not. In the village there are two types of granaries, one with three openings for the women, and that stores only millet and another with one opening for the men, where groundnuts, beans and millet and other products are stored. 

Looking from up, it looks like a nice village. When you have to go through it then you notice the lack of drainage, garbage and animal droppings everywhere, stagnant water and a rather insalubrious set up. 

Case à palabre

Back at camp, they had a nap. The others got back shortly afterwards. It was much later that they were to learn that on their outing Hans was not feeling well and went for a malaria test at the local clinic. The test did not show any apparent signs of malaria but the doctor advised that he should start the course of pills immediately.

He had high fever and a bad headache too. He slept for the rest of the afternoon and it was only later in the evening that the fever abated. The manager of the hotel assured them that he was available in case of any need no matter how late it was. The local clinic also had a night service.

Next morning Hans still had the headache and was not looking too good. But later, he said his headache was better and we should be proceeding south. He assured everybody that he was ok to travel. So, they packed up and took the scenic road to Bankass.