A Trek in Dogon Country #5

The next day I find that the Post Office has a letter for me, and I hide from the souvenir pushers in the Dogon Patisserie to devour it, along with a custard square while scribbling some postcards. Alas, no guide is pestering anyone, a pity, as I look forward to disrupting their spiel. In the afternoon I go to nearby Sevare to look up Jeff, a Peace Corps volunteer I met in Timbuctoo. I have some books to swap, an important currency. He and his companions had flown back safely enough, and my accounts of Dogonia and the guides are assessed to be the usual experience, quite similar to that endured by colleagues. I recall the Dane, who in his dispute, had ended up walking to Bandiagara from Djiguibombo, though in his case the chief sent a fellow after him to check that he was alright.

They note that the guides spend their money on drugs, mainly marijuana, and that on many trips they are ’spaced-out’ or at least spend their evenings drinking. Also, they shield visitors from local contact, local food and local drink in order to capture the cash flow, and at much higher prices. As for the ‘village visit’ fee, they say that there is no such thing, agreeing with my doubt that any such money reaches the village. In their experience, actual village chiefs are unable to find even trivial sums for needed purchases (say for a village first-aid kit), which would be easily found if they received even a fraction of the supposed visit fee, which, curiously enough, is paid to the guide as part of the package deal.

Likewise, the “water tax” evokes incomprehension. What is meant to happen is that for each water pump, a local is designated as the maintenance man, trained in minor repairs, and that every person who fills a bucket is supposed to pay a fee of a few CFA a go, thereby building up a fund for repairs. This doesn’t work out at all, especially after it was found that spare parts such as the connecting rod bushing were unusual sizes that could only be supplied on special order from France at ridiculous expense. So the pumps are used until they fail, then it is a matter of waiting until some aid agency sees the merit of a new pump.

By contrast, the much larger ‘water tax’ of “around CFA125″ (LP West Africa, 1995, p575) that we might be invited to pay would be into the hand of the guide. I rather suspect that the LP authors have obtained their information from none other than…the guides. I am not impressed by their descriptions.

So, if you plan to make a trek in Dogon country you do not need to expend big money. My total expenditure to get from Mopti, spend four nights, and return to Mopti was about CFA 20,000 which is less than just staying in Mopti for the same period, though I would have done so in slightly more comfort. I am still sorry that I missed a seven-day trek, but that was how it turned out.

I would suggest the following: get from Mopti to Bankas (by bus), then walk to the junction by Kani Kombolé (only eight miles, instead of sixteen from Bandiagara), to follow the cliff all the way to Banani where you ascend to Sanga for the return to Mopti via Bandiagara, taking a week. Or maybe in the other direction, if you’re heading for West Africa’s second main attraction, the coast of Ghana, to relax somewhere on the beaches.

The road under construction from Bandiagara to Bankas may be open to traffic when you get there, perhaps even some sort of bus traffic so if that means you can sweep past Bandiagara, so much the better. It would get you almost to Kani Kombolé.

The large villages of Djiguibombo and Dourou held no special attraction to us, but on no account fail to visit the triple village of Benigmato, even if it is a matter of ascending the cliff and descending just to do so. The folk at the campement can guide you to the area of the staircase and cliffside villages, and back if you wish to use Benigmato as a local base. Only atop the cliff would a guide be necessary, thanks to the gullies and canyons. Along the base of the cliff, a guide for directions is a waste of money.

If you seek special information about what is to be seen in and near any village, engage locals only, though remember that few people speak French, still less English. If your French is not too good, asking about cultural matters will not be very enlightening and the youths masquerading as knowledgeable guides may simply spin some story.

Engaging a guide in Bandiagara will cost you more money, in Mopti more still, and you’d have to be daft to do so in Bamako. Proper professional guides may be value for money in special circumstances, as when your time is strictly scheduled, but fixed schedules in Africa are asking for trouble.

Don’t mess about over water. You will need a lot, and lots of water sterilisation tablets, if not the last word, tincture of iodine. Beware of fancy filters and such, that can break. Don’t forget salt. Buy lightweight energy food in Mopti, for breakfasts especially. Pasta is always good and tasty sauces can be made from dried soup.

Buy a supply of Kola nuts for the gifts of etiquette – our kilogram barely sufficed. Prices in Bandiagara are special, so buy in Mopti where there’s more choice anyway.

Likewise, postcards are cheaper in Bamako than in Mopti, and Timbuctoo’s postcards are more expensive still, so buy a supply before you leave Bamako if you’re going in that direction, even if your rules prohibit you from sending a postcard before you have been to the place it depicts.

Minimise the weight of your pack by leaving as much as possible behind if you are making a round trip, otherwise you could engage a cart for your journey along the base of the cliff, perhaps in stages just from village to village though that will require some negotiating time.

I carried my tent and stove (multi-fuel, with kerosine in this case), but not my sleeping bag, only a sheet. Lots of film (you can’t take a bad photograph) – there is no jungle gloom here so fast film is unnecessary unless you hope for night photography. Beware of dust assault on your camera! Good boots, comfortably worn in, and a hat. Perhaps one day you will be able to carry a Dogon phrasebook (there are several dialects) and manage better communication with the Dogon people than we did.

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