Walking along La Falaise

Rising gently from the plains of the Inner Niger Delta and then dropping hundreds of metres in an impressive rock face, the region of the Falaise de Bandiagara has a really spectacular landscape. Combine this with the fascinating Dogon culture and you have one of West Africas most impressive – and most touristy (though not this year…) – regions.

This is great trekking territory so I spent three days hiking up and down the Falaise. My original plan had been to spend a week in the northern part of the Dogon country but as my visa had almost expired I settled for a shorter option in the more easily accessible southern part. And I didn’t regret it!

Enjoying the view on the spectacular rock formations...

... which culminate in a vertical cliff rising from the plain.

Between the rocks are small fields...

... and beautiful Dogon villages...

... with interesting round granaries and traditional pharmacies that look like mud-built shelves.

On display in the villages are locally made textiles...

... and the trophies of successful hunters.

In the Inner Niger Delta

Because of the low water level in the Niger River (due to the dry season), the big passenger boats that connect various cities along the river didn't operate. Thus, I took the road from Bamako to Ségou though I would have loved to travel by boat. However, when I heard about the possibility to take a pinasse (see foto below) from a small town not far from Djenné to Mopti, the fourth largest city of Mali, I decided to give it a try.

Although only 50 km from Djenné, the small town of Kuakourou is quite a different world. There's no electricity (though drinking water supply has improved of late) and transport conditions aren't easy. In the rainy season which starts in June, the town is surrounded by water and only accessible by boat. In the dry season, a small track connects it with Djenné and the Niger River with Mopti. The best chance to get to Kuakourou by public transport is before the town's big Saturday market. Together with Nouhoum, my friend from Djenné, I took a truck that brought traders and their goods to the market.

A dusty ride on a truck with traders on their way to the market

The three hour ride on the small, dusty track was great fun as the traders were in a good mood and the landscape was really interesting. This is the Inner Niger Delta where the great river spreads to create a system of streams, lakes and islands. I tried to picture how this area looks in the rainy season but found it hard to imagine this dry landscape to be a world of water and islands.

Dry now but in the rainy season a system of streams and islands

The Niger River at Mopti gives an impression of what a really large area might look like in the rainy season

In Kuakourou, the mayor of the town allowed us to sleep on the roof of his new house which was still under construction. The following day was market day.

Marketwoman selling potash

Part of the Saturday market in Kuakourou

With the market continuing until the evening, I decided to wait until the next day to take a boat down the Niger to Mopti. This proved to be a good decision as the trip in the dried fish-laden pinasse took five hours.

My pinasse (left) and a smaller pirogue used for crossing the river

Fellow passengers on the way to Mopti

Urban agriculture

In and around many cities in the region, I have seen people producing vegetables in small gardens. As this is a topic which interests me, I was glad to have the opportunity to talk and work with some of the farmers in order to learn from them. With high rates of un- or underemployment especially of young people and unused land close to natural and artificial streams, urban agriculture seems to be an obvious thing to do. However, there are many obstacles to overcome before the first harvest. Of particular importance is to protect the garden, especially from cows, goats and sheep that roam freely during the dry season, but also from uninvited human visitors during harvest time. To put up a wall, a fence or a thorny hedge is thus a necessary investment of time, money and effort. Watering is often done with watering cans or other plastic containers. In some places, I came across people using small pumps which I'd seen in Kenya several years ago, being used. They are one of the outputs of a rather successful development enterprise called KickStart.

Urban and periurban agriculture, i.e. agriculture in or close to cities, comes in many different forms, for example like the beautiful garden kept by the American Peace Corps volunteer Michelle near the hospital of Richard Toll, Senegal...


... or, along busy roads in Bamako, tree nurseries ...


... and other diverse gardens (here with bananas, mais, aubergine, salad, mangos, etc.)...


but also like this small plantation of sweet potatoes in an unused space near a bridge across a drain...

... or, in somewhat nicer locations, near the Niger River in Segou...


... and a large garden area on the outskirts of Djenné, where my friend Nouhoum is transplanting salad seedlings.

Djenné

With its awesome mosque, beautiful mud built houses and a big and colourful market, the city of Djenné is one of Mali's main tourist attractions.

However, this year has been a very bad year for the country's tourism sector due to travel warnings given out by the governments of several countries. In spite of the fact that most of these travel warnings concern the north of Mali, the whole country receives a lot less tourism than in previous years. During some days of my week in Djenné I had the impression that I was the only tourist in town.

The spirit of street football...

... is alive and kicking in Bamako.

Just around the corner from my guesthouse in the Malian capital is the most amazing football pitch that I've seen so far. It consists of a triangular parking space (really bumpy in some parts) and an adjoining road.

The surface alone would make playing there too risky for my taste - it's a 10 cm step up from the parking onto the road - but what makes playing here look really dangerous is the fact that there's quite a lot of traffic on the road where the players run. Not all of the vehicles go slow either. The pitch is delimited on one side by a metre-deep drain next to a really busy road and on the other side by houses and another drain. However, the guys didn't to pay attention to the difficult conditions and played really well. To my big surprise only one leg broke - the leg of a chair - when two players fighting for the ball fell on an elderly onlooker who was sitting there. The man just brushed off the dust and walked away without a word.