UNESCO World Heritage Site--Djenne-Jeno and other Mali Things to Do Tips

Djenne was an important regional center of commerce and political power dating back some thirteen to fourteen hundred years. There are two sites of interest: modern Djenne with the grand mud mosque and its Monday market; and old Jeno, the ancient city which was abandoned lock, stock and barrell seven or eight centuries back.

The reasons for the relocation of the city probably had to due with the Bani River. New Djenne is located on an island surrounded by the flood plains of the Bani. Old Jeno probably ran into problems as the river shifted its course through the cenuries which made the annual floods and the resulting diseases an untenable situation.

The archealogical site of Jeno is fascinating. It is possible to visit cemetaries that date back over a thousand years and mountains of ancient pottery shards at least a thousand years old dominate the landscape of the old city center. There will be further commentary on my Djenne page.

Leave a Comment

My protestations in the "Tourist Trap" tip about Tombouctou aside, I must confess that there is much of historical significance in Tombouctou.

Tombouctou was renowned in medieval times as a great center of West African and Islamic knowledge. Legends of its wealth crept slowly but surely across the Sahara to Morocco, Egypt and eventually Europe. The first Islamic travelers found much of interest in Tombouctou as there was a shared culture, background and to some extent language. The first European exploreres were met with hostility often leading to death. In European eyes, Tombouctou lost much of its imagined luster when accounts came back of a dry dusty town without much in the way of riches. Therefore, it was largely left alone during the colonial days.

Now, Tombouvtou is gaining much respect amongst Islamic scholars. Tombouctou is the repository of tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts datings back seven to eight centuries. These manuscripts show that Tombouctou was indeed a great center of Islamic learning and of dispute resolution.

Until recently all the ancient manuscripts were kept in private dwellings passed on as valuable relics from generation to generation. It is thought that some thirty thousand manuscripts may still be in private hands in Tombouctou. Another thirty thousand have been collected and are being restored as best as possible at the library of Ahmed Baba.

This photo shows some of the ancient manuscripts that are on display for the curious bibliophile.

Leave a Comment

The Dogon people live on and around the huge Bandiagara Escarpment that stretches a hundred and twtenty-five miles through southeastern Mali. Many of the Dogon villages are on steep cliffs. They built their huts and granaries on the escarpment to protect themselves from the Fulani people who were slave traders prior to the colonization of the area by the French.

Each Dogon village seems to have its own fascinating idiosyncracy. You can visit the circumcision caves at Songo, the crocodile pits at Amani, visit ancient Tellum cliff dwellings, watch an elder make a divination table in the dirt outside of Sangha or take in ceremonial mask dances at Tireli.

Leave a Comment

The Niger River's headwaters are in the country of Guinea and it empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. But it also bisects Mali flowing from its western border with Guinea through the capital city of Bamako, turning northward to rendezvous with the ancient city of Tombouctou and then heading southwards to Mopti before departing in the east for the country which shares its name--Niger.

There are hippopotamuses on the Niger but unfortunately we did not encounter any on our pinasse (a long thatch covered boat that can hold dozens of passengers) ride from Mopti to the Bambara fishing villages.

Leave a Comment