Map of Dogon region

Click on pictures to see enlarged version

I have now been in Mali for over a month and what a country – this should be on everyone’s visit list, although I will say that it’s not possible to see the whole thing in two weeks and even three weeks is a push.

There are a couple of things I have particularly enjoyed seeing and experiencing here. The first, organised by Fromhere2Timbuktu, was the third annual Festival of Camels in Tessalit. The Tuareg people have suffered immensely under the pressure of the recent kidnappings, often being used as scapegoats when no one knows who to blame. They made this small traditional festival an opportunity to prove to the outside world that they were open and welcoming. Unfortunately many tourist groups were stopped in Gao by the police and not allowed to continue to an area now agreed to be very dangerous indeed. Our trip however had been organised to travel with a military convoy to Tessalit and back.

Guitarists at Tuareg Festival

The convoy was an experience in itself (convoy being used in the loosest sense of the word,) with ten or 12 vehicles charging across the desert three or four abreast, trying to avoid the dust from the car in front. The convoy was only there to make the festival available to us as tourists so for that reason I didn’t want to do too many drawings of guns and soldiers and miss out describing this amazing little festival.

Camel races

There were only 30 tourists and their guides permitted to go up to the festival, which made it all the more special but very sad that so few people could experience what turned out to be a fantastic two day event. The local Tuareg people all dressed up in their amazing finery with clothes that turn their skin blue giving them the name ‘Les hommes bleu’. We heard some great music from a band called Tinariwen and other local bands, all celebrating traditional Tuareg life with the role of the Camel as a significant backdrop. The second day saw a six kilometre camel race, a parade of camels and a competition for the most beautiful woman.

It is unlike any festival you will have seen in the west; a thousand people and 30 tourists, all enjoying the music coming from a stage with goat skin sides. When the bigger bands came on, the 4 x 4s were pulled up at the back like a drive-in for people to see over the giant turbans in front. At one point all the camels came into the seating area with their jockeys who danced on their saddles in their booboos and waved their whips above their heads.

Aside from this moment of mayhem there is a certain civilised air to it all. Women sit in one section – it’s not obligatory at all but it is just how they do it – there are a number of chairs, people sitting cross legged at the front and standing at the back. An area is left at the front for three men and three women from the crowd to do the traditional Tuareg dancing.

I thought I was lucky enough to get on to the stage to draw, but actually in hindsight I think if you asked nicely anyone could stand at the back and watch, and a lot of people did. Afterwards everyone retired to their goat skin tents, which all faced one direction to minimise the wind and the sun. It was well worth the trip – but it’s 35 hours of travelling so it’s not to be squeezed into a week.

Dogon scene

My second memorable experience was the Dogon Country, which is one of the few places I can say that has taken my breath away. I have seen busy market cities and never ending desert before, but this is something that would be hard to find anywhere else. To start with, the geography of the place is extraordinary; you have a 200km of 600ft escarpment running from North East to South West. At the top and the bottom of this live the Dogon, a name perhaps derived from the French for people of the Ogon – ‘de Ogon’ – d’Ogon.

Dogone scenery

The history behind the Dogon is that during the 15th century they arrived in Bandiagara and lived side by side with the Tellem, a community of miniature people who built their houses high up in the escarpment and gathered fruits and hunted animals in the Seno-Gondo Plain.

Dogon children

Eventually the Dogon drove the Tellem out, either by using up their hunting ground for growing crops like millet or by actually chasing them away. It remains a mystery where the Tellem went. You can however see their incredible, delicately built houses on the face of the escarpment, where the Dogon now bury their dead, winching them up with rope made from the young Baobab bark.

Dogon child

The area is one of the few places that has remained non-Muslim, because of the difficulty in accessing it and the traditional Animist culture has largely been retained. It is one of the few areas in the world that has benefited from intense tourism, allowing them to keep their sensitive and somewhat different way of life. Aside from the desert the Dogon country is one of the few places you would need to take a guide for trekking and a 4 x 4 to get there. We drove the entire length of the escarpment in about four hours. You should also remember to take a pocketful of Kola beans as payment for taking photos.

Show One Response

Hide comments

1. Padraig Doyle says:

   May 2, 2010 at 3:14 pm

   George,
   Enjoying your reports. Sounds like a very brave trip and your drawings are getting better with each one. Can’t wait to meet up and get the full scary details.

   Padraig Doyle
   (From the banks of the Blackwater)