Mali Trip

Last week I pulled every last penny out of my Senegalese bank account (about $300) and traveled with my friend Eric to Mali for an impromptu vacation. We met up in the south-eastern region of Kedougou, where he lives, and schmoozed our way across a little-used border crossing without having to pay for a visa. We ended up in a small town called Keniaba, which was described by the Lonely Planet guide as the "dogs breakfast," and managed to catch a free 6 hour ride to Bamako with a couple of Moroccan guys. We spent two nights in Bamako in the dormitory of the Sleeping Camel, visited some local Peace Corps volunteers at their regional house then took an 8 hour bus ride up to Mopti where we rented beds in another dormitory at Ya Pas De Probleme hotel. We spent an excellent night drinking by the pool and wandering around in search of street food, and in the morning we explored the market and made a quick visit to the mud mosque before taking a shared taxi to Severe to meet up with our guide Hassimi to travel to Dogon country. We spent three days trekking through Dogon villages and scrambling up and down the 500 meter escarpment to explore the old abandoned mud buildings built into the cliffs. On our way back to Bamako we made a pit stop in Segou to take in a night of the famous West African music festival Le Festival Sur Le Niger. The stage is set up on a barge floating on the Niger river, but since we couldn't afford the $26 ticket we contented ourselves with free seats in a life boat perched on a house boat floating directly behind the stage. At that point both of our funds were running pretty low so the next morning we flagged down a bus to Bamako, spent one more night at the Sleeping Camel then high tailed it back to Senegal, with just four dollars to spare. Looks like I'll be spending the next few days at the Kedougou regional house waiting for our next mondat (living allowance) to be deposited in my bank account. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.

Hitch Hiking from Keniaba to Bamako

Ancient abandoned Dogon village built into the cliffs

Another Dogon village located on top of the 500 meter tall escarpment

Panoramic view from the top of the escarpment (click to see it full size)

Beautiful onion garden located in a small valley
halfway up the escarpment

Dogon mud graineries and homes sheltered by the
overhanging rock

House of the Hogon ( Dogon spiritual leader)

A view of the Dogon village of Ende and its mud mosque
from the cliff

Mud homes built into the cliffs that pre-date the
Dogon houses, made by pygmies

Mud mosque in Mopti

Getting serious with the best hunter in the
village and his home-made guns. Yes, those are
baboon skins and skulls hanging from his hut.