Day 75: The Africa Retrospective

In light of Elise's impending re-visit to Korea, and since I never got these photos on to the blog in the first place (it had long since been defunct), here is a smattering of photos from my December trip to Mali!

PS It was the coolest trip of my life.

EDIT: Here are those pictures. Sorry!

This is a view of a street in Bamako (the capital of Mali) right outside of our hotel - where there were some cattle being driven down the street.


This is a pretty scene in a more upscale part of Bamako kind of near the Peace Corps Bureau, if I remember correctly.

Now Elise and I are in a car with our tour guide headed to Dogon country, famous for being some of the prettiest around Mali. This is a shot out of the window at one of many similar-looking structures, made of mud bricks.

We're getting deeper into Dogon country!

If memory serves (and it does), this canyon was near the end of our car trip, whereupon we disembarked and continued our journey on foot through several small villages.


This is a mud mosque in the first village we stopped at in Dogon country. We had lunch in a very nice two-story concession nearby.

More scenery.

Now we are up in the famous ancient cliffside villages. Here's a shot of the lovely Elise in the foreground with our tour guide in the background! He was pretty cool, knew his stuff and spoke French and a little English (for me).


This is Elise and I in the fancy concession that we stayed at for pretty much an entire day during our trip. in one of the inner villages.

The rooftop terrace where we hung out all day.

Wild camel! Wild camel! En route to the next village in Dogon country.

Mali sure is pretty.

Especially when adorned with monkey skulls.

And even prettier when Elise is around!

Pigs on a mountain!

This picture is my desktop background.

Finally we leave Dogon country for the busy riverside port of Gau.

Elise is making Green Tea for our boat's captain as we sail down the "Crocodile River."

"I'm on a boat! I'm on a boat!"

Another mud mosque.

The obligatory exploiting picture of local children. But I couldn't resist because they were so cute.

Some pretty local Tuareg.

She was kind enough to pose with me in full Tuareg regalia.

One corner of Elise's concession, her papaya trees.

The main part of Elise's concession: The building on the left is her kitchen and storage room, and the building on the right edge of the picture is her sleepin' space. Most of her time is spent hanging out outside under the shade in between.