Hiking Over The Dogon Escarpment

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A hike up and over a Dogon escarpment was a major adventure and undertaking. First, we assembled early in the morning at the base of the mountain for our hike, surrounded by villagers screaming and shouting to Roberto... "Me...me...pick me..." as our guides and porters. It seemed to be massive, but organized, confusion! Roberto assigned one guide for each person in our group. The guide would carry our daypack and make sure that we didn't fall into a gorge or off the mountain. My assigned guide was harangued by Roberto..."take good care of Mama! Do you hear me? Hold her hand...and watch Mama!" (This little man never left my side.)

The "water porter" did the entire route with the case of water bottles on his head. ... View image...

There was no trail. We climbed up steadily, from boulder-to-boulder and, even though it was early in the morning, very intense heat. My guide holding "Mama's" hand on all tricky spots, wearing flip-flops - when one flip-flop broke, he took off the other one to repair later, and hiked barefoot the rest of the way while I was wearing hiking boots! Free Shipping on Outdoor Clothing at Backcountry.com

Every now and then we would come across a little village with their usually shaped granaries and burials, hidden in this huge escarpment. ... View image...

The Dogons would have some unique items laid out for us to buy. ( I bought a "supposedly" antique Dogon ring that someone had taken from an ancient cave.)

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We'd drink water, rest a little and head upwards again. Finally, the plateau and downhill on the other side. Climbed down a Dogon ladder ... View image ... and through an extremely narrow gorge View image... where I managed to gash my leg on a sharp rock and quietly bleed all the way down. The Dogons were very impressed by my stoicism (as well as the amount of bleeding I did)...and my little guide was thrilled that he got me down semi-intact.

There are a million stories....and after an experience like this...I have the utmost awe and respect for Ronnie (a "she"), with whom we traveled in Nepal on Mountain Travel's "Everest Escapade." Ronnie and her daughter traveled through Mali for two weeks ALONE! It certainly can be done but give me Roberto, and Mountain Travel, any day. Can't even imagine the logistics of doing it alone! Ronnie, you are my hero!!

The trip to West Africa wouldn't have been complete (for me) unless I had a chance to do my world-famous rendition of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in a Dogon village.