Travellingman reisverhalen - - Djenné - Mopti
Day 9: 7 februari 2006
Djenné - Mopti

After a cold shower (there was no warm water) and breakfast we went to the place where yesterday the market took place. A local guide took us around. The first stop was of course the main building in Djenné; the Mosque.

As a non Muslim it's not possible to visit the Mosque, so the guide told us everything from the central area. We walked on and our guide explained things about the different types of buildings. Some have Moroccan influence, others Ethiopian or local influences. Djenné is also known as a center for Koran teaching. There are different levels in which you can learn about the Koran. Most of the teaching is done in the houses of teachers themselves, so the classes are small (about 10 to 15 children). We also visited a Bogalan artist. Some of my travel mates wanted to buy a blanket or carpet and negotiating the price took a long time, but after 20 minutes there was an agreement. We also visited a place where they make and sell silver jewellery, which is typical for this area.

Around 10.30 am we left Djenné to go to Mopti. Djenné is not situated on the main road from Bamako to Mopti, so we first had to return to main road and had to cross the Bani River again. After travelling 130 kilometer we arrived in Mopti. We went to the hotel, but again there was a problem. They did not expect us and the booked rooms where not available. We could get some other rooms, but we had to share the showers and toilet. We didn't consider this as a problem. Later it seemed to be a mistake of Momo. He thought we had to stay in Mopti, but according to the travel plan we had to go to Bandiagara. After he rearranged things, we went into town where we had lunch in place near the "Harbour". The surrounding of this harbour is pretty dirty. Momo left us to return after a long time. In the mean time he made some arrangements.

After we changed some money on the black market (in a local store) we went to old part of the town and visited the Mosque. They were restoring the building. Some (re)plastering of the wall was going on. In basins they mixed clay, dung and dry grass to make the plaster.

After this visit, we went to a market place with shops of local artists. A lot of masks, jewellery and clothes. I bought some high quality pants (so they told, but later I found out the quality was not that good) and a shirt. After this visit we went to the new part of town to visit the market. They sold a lot of merchandise, but I didn't found anything to buy. By boat we went on the river. Most of the boats around here are used for transportation of all kinds of merchandise.

After a short trip we came to a kind of ship yard. We saw blacksmiths making nails and other materials that are used to make the wooden ships, but also fish hooks and -arrows. The ships were made of teakwood that comes from other parts of Mali. They told is there is plenty of teakwood, but when I asked if they replant the forests, where they take the wood from, the answer was negative. So it is quit predictable that in couple of years a new environmental disaster is going to happen. The ships were build by hand. The curving of the wood is done over fires. It takes about 2 to 3 month to finish a boat (depending on the size). To make the boat water resistant they use (motor) oil. They “paint” the wood with this.

After this visit we went to the fish market. There was not much fresh fish around here. Most fish is dried and can be kept about 1 to 2 weeks for consumption. Most fish goes to other places and a lot of trucks were loaded with the dried fish. This is probably the biggest fish market in Mali.

We walked back to our bus and went to the hotel where we did laundry and had showers. At the bar I had a beer and talked to Peter and Mely, my Swiss travel mates. After dinner I repacked my luggage for the following days in the Dogon. Around midnight I went to bed.

Initial publication: 02 april 2006
Last update: 31 mei 2008
© A. Heeroma







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