| Dogon Country |
A hot night was behind me. Not so what you think
- this nights are lukewarm or cool against this heat. The room without fan.
Normal is 42° or 43° in this time. The top came today - 47°.
8 o'clock came Massu, my guide for the Dogon Country. We left Bankass over sandy ways. Many women came against us. In Bankass is the weekly market today and same must go about 20 km. And the I saw the hills of the Dogon County. Only a small part. The Dogon Country is 130 km long. |
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We left the car and walked up on the hills. The first flat and sandy land. Through fields. The poeple have water about 2 month - in the rain time. It's possible you can't cross the river - to much water for same hours. And this is the time for the fields. In haste, then soon is finish the water and the hot sun will be come back. Down of the hills the poeple plant maize and grain. Up on the hills, there will be plant tomatoes and onions. And every week is market in the valley. The poeple of the hills come down and bring your tomatoes and onions and changed it against the grain. The track was stony but also with much shadow and we arrived Bagnimato - a up hill village. Muslims and Christs life here separate but peaceful. And have they a dispute ten they have also a "town hall".
This is the town hall. More a sit hall. Really, it's only possible to sit there. And this have a reason. Are the dispute to great and one of the men have a to hot head and he would like beat the head of his opponent - well then he spring up and he have heavy head with headache. The ceiling is only about 1 m or a little bit more high. This was the morning. |
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We gone down and the midday sun was brutal hot. Droved in the next little village Yaba Talu and it was lunch time, where I got the traditional Mali lunch - macaroni. The break was a little bit longer and this was good so. I laid in the shadow of the roof and got my cool beer. But I had to drink in haste, then in small minutes was the beer warm.
The we drove farther to South. There stay houses in the rocks. I remembered me at Zelve and Göreme. But here the houses not in the rocks. The poeple built houses made of loam on the rocks. It is a cool and shady place here. Now life the poeple down in the plain. All is dilapidated. Only the kids play here. |
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Then showed me Massu the tomb of the important poeple. The chiefs and also the hunter have your grave here. A room of loam and I saw the skulls and the bones. Hunter are respected men. They bring fresh flesh and catch the monkeys, the robber in the fields. Right you can see the skulls of the monkeys. This was the afternoon and we drove back to Bankass and I farther to Mopti.
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