To Dogon Country or not to Dogon Country....

...and I think it looks like to 'not to Dogon Country'.



We've been in Bandiagara for a couple of days now, speaking with various prospective guides, debating to go guideless and collecting what info we can and...franchement....buuof, it appears like the trail at a fun fair.



In the end we are going to catch a bush taxi to Sangha, stick our heads over the escarpement...guideless, I hasten to add....and then FLEEEEEEEE....towards Hombori.



That at least looks a bit more wild, an area of beautiful mesetas, free-standing rock peaks and small villages. Its also crawling with guides apparently but you might be able to see the grass between them. Here they are like sardines in a tin. Also, as we drove through it it doesnt look like the Disney revolution has hit it yet, but its creeping up close there too.



Ooof, Goodness Mali is exhausting! Id come back for Timboctou, as I said in my last mail, but I modify it...Id creep in via Niger and scuttle right back.



Its a shame, its a beautiful country and the 4 days on the boat we met a host of friendly people but otherwise its pure 'Africa for beginners and make sure you take a guide' because if you dont you dont have a chance in hell of meeting a Malian who isnt a guide, necklace seller, hotel keeper or unscrupulous bush taxi driver.



You exist in a cutsy cutsy tourist bubble, all moving in the same direction, around the same tourist trail...a bit like the mindless herds of sheep you see plodding across the countryside, heads bobbing in unison, chewing the cud ; all being hassled 50 times a day by the same people and they are persistant. A comparison with hordes of flies springs to mind.



I guess if its a first trip it might be ok, otherwise it is a huge disappointment....no, I wouldnt recommend it. Yawn..... very tedious, very done up, very cutsy cutsy 'Authentic Africa'...go elsewhere.....