Day 12: 10 februari 2006
Dogon - Bandiagara

The first light of the day is around 6 am and I woke up at 6.30 am. During the night I woke up a couple of times, but most of the time it was cloudy. Only just before sunrise there were plenty of stars.

After breakfast we went to area at the cliff where the locals performed a mask dance. Momo had arranged this for us. The dances where impressive. One of the dancers carried a seven meter high mask and as a part of the dance he had to touch the ground in the four wind directions. Also there was a dance on stilts. After the dances we got the explanations of the masks. We gave the elder men the cola nuts we had bought before.

After the dance we went back to village to pack our luggage. Before we left Momo told some French people the truth. These people also watched the dance but didn't pay or gave anything for it. Last night, before I went to bed, I talked to one of the locals and he told me that French people were the worst tourist for them. Most of them don't show much respect and also pay as less as possible for services provided. This morning I got the confirmation of his experience.

The village can't be reached by the cars, so we had to walk to the cars. The surrounding was beautiful and the locals grew food like onions and salad. The Dogon is well known for its onions. The water is stored during the rainy season. We drove by car and past some villages. One of the villages is place where our guide Momo is born and we visited his family and just walked around and had our last chance to buy some indigo coloured material. I bought a local hat. After these stops we drove to Bandiagara.

We went to the hotel and got our rooms. It was already to warm to do a lot. I relaxed and read one of the books I took with me. After dinner I talked with some of travel mates and did some reading. Around 11.30 pm I went to bed, after repacking my luggage.

Initial publication: 21 april 2006
Last update: 04 juni 2008
© A. Heeroma