Mali 2003
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Mali, showing the capital, Bamako, and the sites we visited: Segou, Mopti, Djenne and Timbuktu.
Great Mosque, Djenné. The current mosque dates from the early 20th century and is constructed of sun baked bricks covered with plaster. The protuberances are partly decorative but mostly serve as scaffolding for the annual replastering of the exterior, which is done as part of a community festival. To give you some perspective, the height of the mosque, sans minarets, is about 50 feet.
Market day in front of the Great Mosque.
After the cotton harvest.
About 500 years ago the animist Dogon people settled close to and "under" the Bandiagra escarpment where they had been chased by Muslims wishing to convert them. The structures under the escarpment stem from an earlier people, the Tellem. Today the original Tellem structures are used mostly for storage and tombs by the Dogon.
The upper part of a Dogon village, near the escarpment. The building at left center with the thick roof (layers of millet stalks) is the toguna where men, only, sit and discuss affairs. The space has a deliberately low roof so as to lessen the chance that arguments become heated and physical.
Dogon stilt dancers.
The dances are performed as part of funeral rituals and after death ceremonies, sometimes years after a death. Wikipedia says that the dances are very expensive to put on and, these days, are performed mostly for tourists.
During the dance ...
... and here a granary door.
"Tellem style" praying-for-rain statue.
"Tellem style" praying-for-rain statue of the Dogon people - - purchased in Bamako, Mali. I saw this statue (in finer form) in the National Museum of Mali and, later, a similar statue for sale, which I purchased.
A Dogon granary door, also purchased in Bamako.
The mosque in Mopti, a large town on the Niger river and the departure point for our 3 day boat trip to Timbuktu.
Pots awaiting transport in Mopti.
Fulani woman, Mopti, with 14 ct gold earrings.
Winnowing grain in a family courtyard, Mopti.
The boat used for our trip to Timbuktu.
There was not much traffic on the river. Here, a pirogue with a sail made of grain sacks.
A mosque in a town along the Niger river.
The courtyard of a home.
Winnowing grain (probably millet) at a diesel driven mill along the Niger.
Winnowing millet along the Niger River.
Freshly fired pots.
A home in a village along the Niger.
A solar panel used to charge a car battery used to power, probably, a radio at a compound along the Niger.
