Getting there

A main goal while in Mali was to meet the family, and visit the Dogon village of, Adama, the student I have known since my last visit three years ago.   This meant a round trip of at least 1200 miles from Bamako using a 4x4 with driver, meeting a guide who knew the roads and villages and spending 8-10 days en route.  

We began the trip by driving for 12 hours from Bamako to Mopti, arriving after dark.   Pot holes in the highway, donkey carts, herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats crossing the road, villages holding markets, lunch stop for rice with gumbo sauce; a long tiring day through the brousse- brush and pasture land punctuated with some large trees, lots of millet and corn fields, ponds and water holes where cattle drink, children splash and swim, people bathe and women wash clothes.   Since the rainy season has just ended, there is plenty of water everywhere and the grass is still green.

Overnight at the Pas de Probleme Hotel in Mopti, visit the port filled with wooden boats called pinasses that transport people and products along the Niger.   The marketplace is always animated with people selling everything imaginable and the boat building and repair area filled with activity- blacksmiths fabricating metal parts and carpenters working with the long wooden planks, both being assisted with their sons.   Buy cases of bottled water and some other supplies that will be needed in an area where stores and shops do not exist and leave for Bandiagara, the beginning of the Dogon region.   We arrive at the end of the Bandiagara escarpment that rises out of this vast plains and desert area and descend a very steep winding paved road to the villages at the bottom of the cliff-  one sign announces a 16 percent down grade.   I wonder if anyone bothered to check the brakes!    No more paved roads, and in fact, places where there are NO roads.  This is the country of pathways, donkey cart trails and traces in the sand.  The Dogon people raise millet and a kind of "wheat" that grows on stocks that look like corn.  Children watch the cattle as they go to graze each day, mothers and daughters spend the day pounding millet and preparing meals, fathers seem to spend many hours conversing in the shade.   Maybe this isn't totally fair, because I think everyone helps with the planting and harvesting of crops.   Overnight under a mosquito net on the roof of a mud adobe brick building counting meteorites and watching the stars, morning investigating the ruins of a former civilization that lived on  ledges of the cliff.   Off to the next village fiording streams, avoiding eroded trenches, dodging animals- me seated in the back seat bracing myself by using both hand holds above the door.  Time to climb to a village located on the top of the cliff, a 2 hour climb up a steep ravine, climbing over boulders and up stones arranged as a rudimentary stairway.   Is it really about 95 degrees?   We consume 2 liter bottles of water that immediately leaves our bodies as sweat.   My second time to this village called Beignemato; located on the edge of the cliff, it has fantastic views of the plains and villages some 1200 feet below.  It is definitely worth the climb. 
Back down the trail and on to the next village.   Three nights and 12 villages later we arrive at our destination, Kassa.  The final day of driving was worthy of a TV commercial for Toyota Land Cruisers!   First of all, the guide did not know the way, so we had to ask villagers and herdmen along the way- traveling through sand dunes with no visible road, trails between fields of millet, and fiording streams and standing water.   At one point we arrived at a river where a herd of cattle was crossing with water nearly over their backs.  The guide entered the water to find a more shallow area and finally located a crossing only one meter in depth- still a challenge for the 4x4.   I held my breath as we pushed our way through the 100 foot width of the stream under the gaze of nomad herdsmen, astonished cows and even a camel!   We arrived safely without the motor stalling and continued on our way.   The roadway became bed rock and large stones, impossible for the vehicle to continue.   We packed essential items in a backpack, took bottles of water, and walked the last 3 miles to the village in 90+ degree heat!   Warm greeting, friendly appreciative family, wonderful connections, part of another chapter.    We only stayed one night since the driver and guide camped at the foot of the mountain and we were unsure of the road conditions for the return.   Ate the chicken that was offered to me as a gift, accepted mangos and bananas for the trip back and said an emotional farewell to the family.   A memorable and exciting experience§