Expedition
Explores Djenné
We left
Bamako on Sunday morning around 8am. As usual, several problems with the trucks
kept us from leaving any earlier. We said goodbye to Pat, who is flying back to
the United States from Bamako on Tuesday.
Probably each of us was a bit envious that he would be seeing home
shortly, but we have a long way to go.
Our
journey North toward Mopti was uneventful and the road was excellent as well as
paved. We did get some decent
footage of a dust storm- similar in nature to a small tornado. We made camp off the roadway about 100K
south of Mopti around 4:30PM. It is
rare that we have been able to stop that early in the day and we took advantage
of the situation by relaxing and cooking a great meal. The temperatures continue to soar above
105F by 2pm and only recede back to 70F after 2am.
The next
morning we hopped on a ferry over the River Niger to the city of Djenné,
Mali. Djenné had been described to
us as the most picturesque and interesting city in West Africa, so it was
definitely a given that we needed to stop by — whoever told us that was right
on, it’s a really incredible place.
We had
arrived on a Monday which is market day in Djenné so finding parking for four
overladen Land Rovers was rather difficult, but we finally found a decent spot
and paid a local teen some dough to watch them for us. We also hired a guide to show us around
since it was so confusing with that many people being there. We later learned that Djenné is a fairly
small city, but its population triples on market Monday!
Djenné’s
main attraction is the Grand Mosquée, known in the west as the Mud Mosque. It is the largest mud brick structure in
the world and is truly amazing. The
current mosque was constructed in 1905 after it was deemed that the original
mosque (built in the 11th century) was beyond repair. We had the opportunity to walk around
the whole building (non-Muslims are forbidden to enter) and see it from every
angle. Located in the very back is
the area where Muslim women pray, as they are not allowed inside the mosque
either. It’s really an impressive
building and even more amazing to think that the whole thing is built out of mud
and wood! One interesting note is
that every year after the rainy season, the Muslim citizens of the town get
together and recoat the entire exterior of the mosque with fresh mud. It takes four days and keeps the
structure solid and weatherproof for another 365 days.
We walked around the rest of the bustling town for a few hours stopping to look at other mud brick houses as well and seeing the city at work. Looking through doorways you could see blacksmiths, pottery being created, baskets being woven and many, many interesting things being cooked! We had the opportunity to stop by the shop of Pama Sinatoa, who is one of Djenné’s most famous artisans. She makes bogolan cloth, which are essentially cotton blankets which are then painted on with mud, which sets and acts as a dye. Some of the designs were really incredible and a few of the guys bought some fine examples to bring home.
After
buying some provisions (potatoes, onions, bread, water, soda, biscuits, etc.) at
local shops and the market vendors, we bid farewell to Djenné. We drove back to the ferry to cross back
over the River Niger and waited while four Land Cruisers with some British folks
on board got off. As we were
getting on the ferry, we noticed that the British people had some expensive
looking movie cameras and figured they were filming some sort of documentary or
something. Mike and I hopped off
the ferry to catch a pirogue across so that we could get some footage of the
trucks crossing the river. As we
hopped off, Ed said: “You guys say
hi to Michael Palin?” The British
folks were the BBC crew along with Michael Palin filming one of his travel
documentaries! I got to meet him
and had my picture taken with him, and he seemed genuinely interested in the
fact that seven crazy Americans had shipped their 30-year old Land Rovers to
Africa, were beating the crap out of them and were then going to ship them
home. One of his crew said: “I have a 1978 Airportable at home and
I’m not daft enough to bring it to Africa!” Thanks for the vote of
confidence!
We bid
farewell to Mr. Palin and Djenné and got back on the road to head towards
Bandigara. We found out later that
we may be in Timbuktu the same time as the BBC crew, so maybe we’ll be able to
get a group shot with Mr. Gumby himself.
-Paul
Shumway