1998 Mali – Part 2

We walked in to Dogon Country, since there are no roads. To get there you hike over this escarpment, with landscape like the moon. Then all of a sudden you see the desert, and climb down into it. Pretty unbelievable. There were trees peppering the edge of the desert, and a toylike town clustered near them.
The first town we visited was Kanikomble. This is a little place with mudbrick graineries and little mudbrick homes. There are no windows or doors or electricity or running water. There is noise though, grinding millet, pounding peanuts, children running, cocks crowing, goats, everybody making noise. But then at night… at night this is the most peaceful and quiet place on earth (at least for this city dweller). Nowhere have I ever heard silence like this, or seen stars like this, so clear, so beautiful, peace.
From Kanikomble we moved along the desert to the village of Teli. High in the cliffs reside the ancient sites where the Dogon used to live in their cliff homes. The Dogon came about 600 years ago and drove away the Pigmy who lived here before them. We climbed up to see some of these ancient homes. The old Dogon cities tended to be lower, with the Pigmy villages higher up. The Pigmy homes were so tiny. Hard to believe anyone could be so small. Maybe they curled up to sleep. Apparently there used to be tall trees or maybe vines so these people could climb up to the highest of their homes. Other than that I could not envision how they got up there. Really something trippy to see.
From Teli we went to Ende. There we visited the old Hogon man, who is like a shaman. I got very sick after this meeting, and believed for many years that it was in part because of this meeting.

In Dogon country we watched women spinning yarn, then men weaving it into thin strips, then women sewing in together and dying it a deep indigo. This indigo rubs off onto your skin when you wear it. I still have the indigo that I got in Dogon country, and it reminds me of those times.