Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Hello everyone! Here’s hoping you are well. We thought we’d dedicate our May / June blog to our trip to Mali, officially classifed as a short holiday. We travelled with two Danish volunteers - Tine and Anders, and used their 4 wheel drive vehicle – ‘oooh’ what luxury and comfort! We set off at 5.30am from Tumu, and by the time we’d gone through border control in Tumu, Ghana and in Lan, Burkina Faso it was around 6.20am. Our other official stop was at customs in Burkina, where the vehicle has to be registered…. first hitch, some official documentation had been left back in the office! Luckily, Rickie and Thomas who were accompanying us to Ouagadougou for a short break, returned to Tumu, found the said documents, and by 8.30 and after a few games of ‘Eye Spy’ and ‘I’m going to market to buy…’ we were on our way.
Ouaga was reached effortlessly by 11.00 am, tarred road all the way - heaven, and here we accomplished our first mission. Return flight tickets home, we found a travel agent that took visa!!! Our second mission was a doddle - brunch at a patisserie - real coffee, bread and cakes! So replenished by 12.00 noon we said goodbye to Ricky and Thomas and headed North West towards Mali. This was a tarred road up to Ouahigouya, then the last 50 or 60 km to the border was on dirt road - but a decent dirt road! So by 4.50pm we were through the border town of Koro, and steaming toward Bankass (52 km from Koro) our first night stop in Mali. Great you may think, however, the road now changed from a decent dirt track to what one could only describe as a sandy, donkey track. Nonetheless, we ploughed on, and any time we saw someone (people were getting fewer and fewer) we shouted ‘Bankass’ and they waved and nodded jovially and pointed in the general direction we were heading. We passed through some delightful little villages, so little that the car was only just getting through, but still we were closing in on Bankass, or so we assumed. Then…the second hitch. The car got stuck in sand, and when we say stuck we really mean stuck. So wedged was it, that we were pretty worried and consequently never even took a photo! After trying our hardest to scoop out the sand from underneath the car, we were beginning to think we’d have to spend the night in the vehicle, a little old man with a rake appeared from nowhere. He puts down his rake and starts digging the sand away and eventually disappears under the car. Finally he emerged, resembling a mother turtle after laying her eggs, and we were able to reverse the car out of its sandy burrow. Now our French isn’t the best, but we managed to figure out that he was telling us he’d take us to his village, and by now a pretty bad storm had blown up and it was getting dark, so we all piled into the car and headed off, in a completely different direction! Thankfully it wasn’t too far, and when we pulled up we were greeted by rather surprised but friendly villagers and two dancing Christmas trees - a surreal sight! Hopefully the photo is displayed above. After much laughter, shoulder shrugging and stilted French conversation we had enlisted the help of a young lad who agreed to guide us through the night, and the desert, to Bankass. As we set off into the night, which was now a mixture of driving rain and sand, we felt like competitors in the Paris-Dakar rally. Eventually our young navigator led us to Bankass and our accommodation – the Hogon – where, unfortunately, you’ve guessed it, it was lights out! Anyway, we had a warmish beer to celebrate our adventurous day, a bite to eat and recruited an English speaking guide for the following three days, (or rather he recruited us). Before putting our heads down in what looked a bit like a prison cell. We also made sure of young saviour had a cell of his own. It was sweltering so we slept with the door open.
The dawn of a new day revealed that the Hogon was quite pleasant, and it had one unbelievable quality – an outside shower that powerfully sprayed really warm water! So we had that to look forward to on our return after our 3 day trek. We paid the young lad, giving him 5,000 cfa (about 5 pounds) for his efforts, and paid another man the same to take him back to his village on his moto – everybody a winner! We also established that the road we’d come on was an old smugglers route, now rarely used. We’d missed the turning for the proper road as we left Koro! Hence the surprised villagers. And that the Christmas Tree children were dressed as ‘tree masks’ as part of a ceremony that appeased the tree spirits of any trees the villagers were about to cut down.
So at around 7.30 am we set off into the Dogon country. The Dogon are one of the African peoples who have successfully retained their culture and traditional way of life over hundreds of years. This is largely due to the isolation of their territory, in remarkable and picturesque cliffside villages which they have built along a 200km wedge of sandstone escarpment east of Mopti in Mali. They still remain firm defenders of their customs, religions and art despite the advent of tourism – and we visited at a time when there were no other tourists, (it’s too hot,) which made it even better!
Leaving the car at a small village called Yabatalou, we climbed up the escarpment heading for another Dogon village for lunch. The views across the plain were beautiful as we climbed the cliff, then we disappeared into a gorge, which eventually led back up to the top via very precariously placed ladders – or rather steps cut into ‘y’ shaped tree branches. Once up there it was a pleasant stroll to the village, but we could see across the desert that a dust storm was heading towards us, arriving just as we reached the village. So we sat cosily waiting for it to pass whilst we had a cool drink, some cous cous and stew. Not only did we wait, but we also had a bit of a siesta as well. There are one or two incriminating photos to show when we come home! When the storm subsided we toured the village – giving kola nuts to the elders – and having a good look at the very distinctive architecture. The buildings are all laid out following a symbolic plan, in which different areas represent different parts of the human body – for example the elders meeting place, the Togu-na, is at the head of the village and the house of the chief at the centre or heart - the outside of this house having rows of niches representing the 8 Dogon ancestors. The walls and buildings are constructed from dry stones or sun fired mud bricks, covered in a wash made from animal dung, not a very pleasant smell when newly applied.
Mid-afternoon we moved on to our next village, which we could see in the distance, a few kilometres along the edge of the escarpment. Although very hot, our walk was mainly on the flat, yet hidden in the dips were some lush areas where the locals grew their maize crops, these were just like an oasis in the desert.
Begnimato, our overnight stop, is perched on the top edge of the escarpment. After a warm greeting, the people simply went about their daily business, with us sharing their ‘facilities’. Our accommodation comprised of a mattress outside and the homely bucket wash. The beauty about it being so hot in the day is that you don’t have to worry about mossies, and the evenings were perfect. The village was split into quartiers; Christian, Muslim and Animist areas. We were staying in the Christian part, so again managed to have a beer before bed! After an early breakfast (real bread and jam) we headed down from the top of the escarpment on a delightful walk back to collect the car. We used the car that afternoon to visit Teli, a village that sits at the foot of the escarpment. From here we trekked up to see the former homes of the Dogon people that nestle actually in the escarpment face itself, these are no longer lived in but kept as shrines to descendants from the people in the villages. They were last inhabited in the 14th century (and the 7th century by pigmies). They were so impressive, beautifully decorated and in remarkably good condition built along ledges in the rock face. After lunch we drove to the village of Ennde where we visited the local market before returning to our accommodation - with a rather crushed and broken calabash trinket, after Al tried to play football with two small boys and a tennis ball! But that’s another story. That night we slept outside again, on the roof this time, with a breathtaking view of the stars.
Our final day involved another walk and climb up the escarpment, the only trouble this time was the heat. Boy it was hot – temperatures in the mid 40Cs – but you know what they say about mad dogs and Englishmen. Today’s walk saw us moving between villages with hoards of children following us - it was like a scene from the Pied Piper – they just wanting to hold hands shouting ‘ca va’. After some lunch we headed back to Bankass and the magical shower at the Hogon. Knowing the set up now we opted for the roof rather than a cell, and another great night under the stars, disturbed only by the animal noises from the house at the back of the Hogon, it’s amazing how many different sounds pigs can generate!!
Tuesday meant we had to head back to Ghana, but at least we knew where we had gone wrong so we wouldn’t be getting stuck in the sand this time! Indeed we were back in Ouaga for midday, which meant we capped our wonderful trip with a slap-up lunch at Le Verdoyant. For slap-up meal read: big pizzas, mozzerella cheese and tomato salad and wait for it… chips!!!! The only downside to stopping off for this was by the time we wanted to go to the supermarket for provisions to take back to Tumu, the supermarket was closed for lunch, and we had to be back at the border by 5.15pm at the latest, to allow time for all the passport stamping etc before it closed at 6, so we made the sacrifice! Not all was lost though, we found a petrol station with a mini supermarket and managed 10 minutes in a ‘shop’ in Leo near the border, so we did get a supply of shower gel, some toothpaste, two pineapples, 2 Kg. of Irish potatoes, tinned sausages, and even a couple of bottles of wine! So after completing all the red tape at both borders we drove into Tumu bang on 6.00pm! What timing!
All in all it was a brilliant 5 days. A great break with lovely company. One final note … you might be thinking ‘the Whitehills seem to be having a fine old time,’ based on the last two blogs - Ouagadougou and now Mali - well we are. But we’re still also beavering away in work and encountering life in Tumu. We’ve established the basis for a link with a local school as a destination for raised funds, had a visit to the hospital (nothing to worry about – sore ears), seen the hippo in its entirety, attended a ‘naming ceremony’, had a foli party, and even witnessed Brenda (‘our’ goat) get pregnant (well we didn’t actually see it happen, but you know what we mean) – but more on those stories next time.
Ouaga was reached effortlessly by 11.00 am, tarred road all the way - heaven, and here we accomplished our first mission. Return flight tickets home, we found a travel agent that took visa!!! Our second mission was a doddle - brunch at a patisserie - real coffee, bread and cakes! So replenished by 12.00 noon we said goodbye to Ricky and Thomas and headed North West towards Mali. This was a tarred road up to Ouahigouya, then the last 50 or 60 km to the border was on dirt road - but a decent dirt road! So by 4.50pm we were through the border town of Koro, and steaming toward Bankass (52 km from Koro) our first night stop in Mali. Great you may think, however, the road now changed from a decent dirt track to what one could only describe as a sandy, donkey track. Nonetheless, we ploughed on, and any time we saw someone (people were getting fewer and fewer) we shouted ‘Bankass’ and they waved and nodded jovially and pointed in the general direction we were heading. We passed through some delightful little villages, so little that the car was only just getting through, but still we were closing in on Bankass, or so we assumed. Then…the second hitch. The car got stuck in sand, and when we say stuck we really mean stuck. So wedged was it, that we were pretty worried and consequently never even took a photo! After trying our hardest to scoop out the sand from underneath the car, we were beginning to think we’d have to spend the night in the vehicle, a little old man with a rake appeared from nowhere. He puts down his rake and starts digging the sand away and eventually disappears under the car. Finally he emerged, resembling a mother turtle after laying her eggs, and we were able to reverse the car out of its sandy burrow. Now our French isn’t the best, but we managed to figure out that he was telling us he’d take us to his village, and by now a pretty bad storm had blown up and it was getting dark, so we all piled into the car and headed off, in a completely different direction! Thankfully it wasn’t too far, and when we pulled up we were greeted by rather surprised but friendly villagers and two dancing Christmas trees - a surreal sight! Hopefully the photo is displayed above. After much laughter, shoulder shrugging and stilted French conversation we had enlisted the help of a young lad who agreed to guide us through the night, and the desert, to Bankass. As we set off into the night, which was now a mixture of driving rain and sand, we felt like competitors in the Paris-Dakar rally. Eventually our young navigator led us to Bankass and our accommodation – the Hogon – where, unfortunately, you’ve guessed it, it was lights out! Anyway, we had a warmish beer to celebrate our adventurous day, a bite to eat and recruited an English speaking guide for the following three days, (or rather he recruited us). Before putting our heads down in what looked a bit like a prison cell. We also made sure of young saviour had a cell of his own. It was sweltering so we slept with the door open.
The dawn of a new day revealed that the Hogon was quite pleasant, and it had one unbelievable quality – an outside shower that powerfully sprayed really warm water! So we had that to look forward to on our return after our 3 day trek. We paid the young lad, giving him 5,000 cfa (about 5 pounds) for his efforts, and paid another man the same to take him back to his village on his moto – everybody a winner! We also established that the road we’d come on was an old smugglers route, now rarely used. We’d missed the turning for the proper road as we left Koro! Hence the surprised villagers. And that the Christmas Tree children were dressed as ‘tree masks’ as part of a ceremony that appeased the tree spirits of any trees the villagers were about to cut down.
So at around 7.30 am we set off into the Dogon country. The Dogon are one of the African peoples who have successfully retained their culture and traditional way of life over hundreds of years. This is largely due to the isolation of their territory, in remarkable and picturesque cliffside villages which they have built along a 200km wedge of sandstone escarpment east of Mopti in Mali. They still remain firm defenders of their customs, religions and art despite the advent of tourism – and we visited at a time when there were no other tourists, (it’s too hot,) which made it even better!
Leaving the car at a small village called Yabatalou, we climbed up the escarpment heading for another Dogon village for lunch. The views across the plain were beautiful as we climbed the cliff, then we disappeared into a gorge, which eventually led back up to the top via very precariously placed ladders – or rather steps cut into ‘y’ shaped tree branches. Once up there it was a pleasant stroll to the village, but we could see across the desert that a dust storm was heading towards us, arriving just as we reached the village. So we sat cosily waiting for it to pass whilst we had a cool drink, some cous cous and stew. Not only did we wait, but we also had a bit of a siesta as well. There are one or two incriminating photos to show when we come home! When the storm subsided we toured the village – giving kola nuts to the elders – and having a good look at the very distinctive architecture. The buildings are all laid out following a symbolic plan, in which different areas represent different parts of the human body – for example the elders meeting place, the Togu-na, is at the head of the village and the house of the chief at the centre or heart - the outside of this house having rows of niches representing the 8 Dogon ancestors. The walls and buildings are constructed from dry stones or sun fired mud bricks, covered in a wash made from animal dung, not a very pleasant smell when newly applied.
Mid-afternoon we moved on to our next village, which we could see in the distance, a few kilometres along the edge of the escarpment. Although very hot, our walk was mainly on the flat, yet hidden in the dips were some lush areas where the locals grew their maize crops, these were just like an oasis in the desert.
Begnimato, our overnight stop, is perched on the top edge of the escarpment. After a warm greeting, the people simply went about their daily business, with us sharing their ‘facilities’. Our accommodation comprised of a mattress outside and the homely bucket wash. The beauty about it being so hot in the day is that you don’t have to worry about mossies, and the evenings were perfect. The village was split into quartiers; Christian, Muslim and Animist areas. We were staying in the Christian part, so again managed to have a beer before bed! After an early breakfast (real bread and jam) we headed down from the top of the escarpment on a delightful walk back to collect the car. We used the car that afternoon to visit Teli, a village that sits at the foot of the escarpment. From here we trekked up to see the former homes of the Dogon people that nestle actually in the escarpment face itself, these are no longer lived in but kept as shrines to descendants from the people in the villages. They were last inhabited in the 14th century (and the 7th century by pigmies). They were so impressive, beautifully decorated and in remarkably good condition built along ledges in the rock face. After lunch we drove to the village of Ennde where we visited the local market before returning to our accommodation - with a rather crushed and broken calabash trinket, after Al tried to play football with two small boys and a tennis ball! But that’s another story. That night we slept outside again, on the roof this time, with a breathtaking view of the stars.
Our final day involved another walk and climb up the escarpment, the only trouble this time was the heat. Boy it was hot – temperatures in the mid 40Cs – but you know what they say about mad dogs and Englishmen. Today’s walk saw us moving between villages with hoards of children following us - it was like a scene from the Pied Piper – they just wanting to hold hands shouting ‘ca va’. After some lunch we headed back to Bankass and the magical shower at the Hogon. Knowing the set up now we opted for the roof rather than a cell, and another great night under the stars, disturbed only by the animal noises from the house at the back of the Hogon, it’s amazing how many different sounds pigs can generate!!
Tuesday meant we had to head back to Ghana, but at least we knew where we had gone wrong so we wouldn’t be getting stuck in the sand this time! Indeed we were back in Ouaga for midday, which meant we capped our wonderful trip with a slap-up lunch at Le Verdoyant. For slap-up meal read: big pizzas, mozzerella cheese and tomato salad and wait for it… chips!!!! The only downside to stopping off for this was by the time we wanted to go to the supermarket for provisions to take back to Tumu, the supermarket was closed for lunch, and we had to be back at the border by 5.15pm at the latest, to allow time for all the passport stamping etc before it closed at 6, so we made the sacrifice! Not all was lost though, we found a petrol station with a mini supermarket and managed 10 minutes in a ‘shop’ in Leo near the border, so we did get a supply of shower gel, some toothpaste, two pineapples, 2 Kg. of Irish potatoes, tinned sausages, and even a couple of bottles of wine! So after completing all the red tape at both borders we drove into Tumu bang on 6.00pm! What timing!
All in all it was a brilliant 5 days. A great break with lovely company. One final note … you might be thinking ‘the Whitehills seem to be having a fine old time,’ based on the last two blogs - Ouagadougou and now Mali - well we are. But we’re still also beavering away in work and encountering life in Tumu. We’ve established the basis for a link with a local school as a destination for raised funds, had a visit to the hospital (nothing to worry about – sore ears), seen the hippo in its entirety, attended a ‘naming ceremony’, had a foli party, and even witnessed Brenda (‘our’ goat) get pregnant (well we didn’t actually see it happen, but you know what we mean) – but more on those stories next time.
Labels: Mali
# posted by Diane & Alan @ 10:49 AM 
