Both villages now lie on the plain, but up on the cliff-face looming above are the houses and granaries of their original locations, dramatically wedged in the rock and still in use by the villagers for storage and ceremonial functions; even higher, and more ancient, than the old Dogon structures are the remains of the homes of the Tellem people who had preceded them. Basically, we used the mornings and late afternoons (after 4 pm) to hike up the cliff to explore the old multilevelled clusters and enjoy the panoramic views of the villages below and the plains sweeping to the horizon; or else wandering the villages themselves, observing the activities, the crafts, and the local architecture (the “togunas”, or meeting centers, were especially striking with their sculptured posts). The hours from noon to about 4 pm were the hottest, and we mainly spent them, after lunch, sprawled on wonderfully relaxing wooden lounges in the shade of the village campements, dozing or reading. Evenings were cool – and dark, as the villages have no electric power and light was by kerosene lamps. (Interestingly, though, Teli has a motor-powered refrigerator, which allowed us the bliss of really cold soft drinks!) Bath and toilet facilities were basic – enclosed but unroofed cubicles – but clean; the buckets of water provided were fabulously refreshing after the hot day. Dinners, cooked by the village, were good – in Ende, we had a great couscous meal! (Lunches and breakfasts were simpler, usually from our own supplies.) Rooms were available around the campement yard, but we always opted to sleep up on the roofs; this was a wonderful experience, the night alive with an orchestra of animal noises (some really weird!), and waking up to the sights and sounds of the villages stirring to their early morning activities, was always a magical moment.
Ende had the more interesting cliff-village, where we could observe the system of hauling corpses up to the burial niches high on the cliff-face, and visited the dwelling-place of the Hogan, the chosen elder who was to be incommunicado for the rest of his life. (The site is said to be normally off-limits, but we were able to visit it as a new hogan hadn’t been chosen yet, and it was occupied by a caretaker – who looked old enough to be a hogan candidate!) The views from the Ende cliff were also the best. But I liked staying in the Teli village best. The atmosphere here was genuinely friendly, the campement spacious and restful, and the crafts were beautiful; their storeroom of carvings, especially the scaled down models of their doors with all the cosmological symbolisms, was guaranteed to make any art fancier run wild. (And of course the actual doors around the village could use up half a roll of film!) In Ende, the craft of choice was cloth making, which was less to my taste. The roof sleeping facilities in Teli, too, were nicer; that night, with a full moon sailing across the sky, is a unforgettable memory. I was the only one in the group who’d brought a light sleeping bag, and I found it ideal in Teli. In Ende, the night was so cold that all of us, sleeping bag or not, were practically freezing. A last consideration: we had Teli practically to ourselves, while Ende was swarming with tourists (well, relatively speaking).
One disappointment on my Dogon visit was our failure to witness a mask dance. (The Dutch couple had been lucky to catch one.) Performances for tourists are sometimes on offer, and in Ende we were offered the opportunity. However, the proposed price was steep (CFA100,000) and the group opted against it. One welcome feature of the Dogon villages was the low incidence of children begging for “cadeaux” (gifts), a regular occurrence elsewhere in Mali wherever tourists stop; apparently, the village elders, especially in Teli, actively discourage this. All in all, the Dogon culture and worldview are so unique and self-contained that it was a real gratification to have experienced it, even to so limited an extent. (We particularly appreciated our guide and the wealth of detail he made available.) I wonder how long this will remain intact as apparently Islam, and to a lesser extent Christianity, are making inroads: there was a prominent mosque in Teli, and a Catholic chapel in Djiguibombo.
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I had opted to base myself in Sevare taking the advice of my guidebook about the relative lack of tourist hassles there compared to Mopti, the wider choice of hotels, and the relative accessibility anyway of Mopti and its tourist attractions (only some 15 minutes drive away); and it seems most travellers do the same. My first impression of Sevare was very nondescript, and actually there’s no real attraction to the town. But my hotel, Djiguiya, was pleasant (especially after Lac Debo in Bamako) with a beautiful lush garden where we took our meals; and the food was very good, though it could take up to an hour to come after ordering! The brochettes were excellent and a special Malian fonio dinner they served up to all the guests was probably my best Mali meal. The young people on the staff were warm and likeable. (The hotel, though, showed telltale signs of typically low quality of upkeep. Though it is a new hotel – the second storey was still unfinished – and the rooms felt new, the bathroom fixtures were already wobbly; and there were spells of power failure which would affect some rooms and not others!) It made for a nice “home base” when we returned from Timbuktu, Djenne, or the Dogon tour. Also, on a free day, when I strolled about the town, though there wasn’t anything to see, the people on the street and in the shops were very friendly.
However, I am of two minds whether I should have spent at least a day or two based in Mopti. On my first foray into Mopti, I found it so crowded, chaotic, and brusque (it was the hot noon hour, and I had to find the right bus station to buy a ticket to Burkina Faso), that I felt thankful I had chosen to stay in Sevare. But on a more extensive tour of the town, in the company of my California friend and the same Mande Tours guide as on the Dogon tour, I found the attractions of the town so varied and fascinating that I felt otherwise. (I had only signed on with Mande Tours for a pirogue tour, but got a full Mopti tour, on the other hand, the pirogue ride was less extensive than I’d expected!) The contrasts between the gracious treelined French-colonial section, the traditional ambience of the old town around the impressive mosque, and the hurly-burly of the market along the banks of the river, made Mopti seem so vital and multi-dimensional. After the overload of impressions, the pirogue ride on the Bani river was idyllic, though I was disappointed we did not get to the confluence with the Niger (though this was visible in the distance). It was tempting to consider a night or two in the upscale (about $40) riverside Kanaga Hotel to wander Mopti at leisure (and perhaps negotiate passage to Timbuktu by the Niger river). I also did not experience the hustling all the guidebooks warn about, but perhaps this was because we were with a guide.
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Should I have done my sidetrip to Burkina Faso? I guess the question is moot since I did do it. As I had mentioned, I had an obsession with Bobo Dioulassou, so it’s probably just as well that I did it, or missing out on it would have gnawed at me afterward; and I did enjoy my stay both there and in Ouagadougou a good deal. However, for someone who does not have this specific motivation and , like me, has only three weeks, using the extra 5-6 days to avail of more leisure and flexibility for Mali would be the saner option. On the other hand, if someone had a month or more, Burkina Faso would be an ideal complement to Mali: transport from one country to the other is readily available (as long as you don’t mind long bus rides!), and the mixture of similarities and differences is interesting. I would not rank Burkina a “must” as a travel destination in terms of attractions (as I would Mali), but after the rigors of travelling Mali and making it to all its attractions (frankly, I think most travellers would at SOME point find Mali travel rigorous), it can be a welcome change to move into a country which is similar enough - in language, culture, and landscape - not to need much readjustment, but can be experienced at a more casual pace, largely because it not – yet – as much a tourist “must”: I saw far fewer tourists there than in Mali. (Interestingly, in contrast to Mali, and most other places I’ve travelled to, where my Asian looks bring remarks of “Japonais?”, in Burkina it was always “Chinois?”, an indication that Japanese tourists still have to penetrate the country!)
Admittedly, I didn’t get beyond the major cities to see Burkina’s more “exotic” attractions, like the Gorom Gorom market or the Banfora area’s natural attractions. (My impression though from others who’d been there, was that these attractions were of a lower key than those in Mali.) My original plan was to just visit Bobo Dioulassou for a few days and try to make a sidetrip to Banfora. However, for rather complicated reasons having to do with my reentry visa to Mali, I decided to go to Ouagadougou instead. So essentially my Burkina stay was a city experience, with a very different accent from that in Mali. I stayed in nicer (and relatively more expensive) hotels, dined on excellent French meals, indulged in nights out with terrific African music, attended church services in Bobo (the service in the Catholic cathedral was eyeopening for the packed African congregation, after the almost-totally Muslim character of Mali), and watched a massive political demonstration in Ouaga. I had the impression of a more cosmopolitan atmosphere in Burkina; Ouaga looked more like a “real” capital than Bamako, and its market, while teeming and colorful , was not open-air like those in Bamako and other Mali towns (and in Bobo), but housed in a permanent, sprawling structure like a Middle Eastern bazaar. Travel by bus between the two towns was much like in Mali – not uncomfortable (there are airconditioned minibuses if you want to opt for them), but long (about 5 hours) and ultimately tedious. The Bobo villages we passed were my limited view of Burkinabe rural life, and they were so attractive that I really wished I’d had a chance to visit one of them: essentially similar to Bobo villages in Mali, they were also subtly different (the shape of the granaries was circular rather than trapezoidal) and looked photogenically like little medieval walled towns.
My day and a half in Ouaga were enjoyable enough. I stayed in Central Hotel (CFA22,000, about $30) which was very central, clean if rather antiseptic and soulless (it was the only hotel room in the trip where I had NO mosquito problem!), and professionally run. I prowled the market, dined at the nun-operated French restaurant L’Eau Vive on very good food in a garden setting, and listened to two excellent bands at the very nice Zaka club-bar-restaurant-craft center (it also served good inexpensive lunches with local specialties).
But I liked Bobo a lot more – a very laid-back place where I could spend half a day just strolling its shady easygoing streets. I stayed at l’Auberge, my most expensive hotel (about $35) on the basis of high recommendations from both the Mande Tours people and my travelling companion from California. It was lovely, with rooms (equipped with mosquito nets) overlooking a tree-shaded swimming pool and al fresco dining area where one could sit all afternoon. |
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