What an entrance!

After drifting off again inbetween babies crying and women vomiting, we were awoken on the bus from hell by the driver, telling us this was where we get off. Bleary-eyed we looked out of the windows into the dawn, and saw a handful of mudhuts by a crossroad. Not Djennè (pronounced Jenny). After briefly arguing with the driver, we found out that this was the Carrefour de Djennè (The Crossroad) and we'd have to find our own way the rest of the 20km to the town itself. Not what we'd been told or paid for. Brilliant.

With the help of a Ghanian man, who was also going to Djennè, we acquired the early morning services of a man, his horse and a cart. Not exactly what we'd imagined our journey to Djennè to be like, but it was pretty cool trundling along at just over walking pace, watching the world pass us by. Either side of the slightly raised dirt road was an inland delta of the Bani river, quite marshy, with early-rising villagers washing and fishing down the banks. Birds flew overhead and we waved to children as we passed by. The horse looked in pretty good condition, considering the state of some other creatures that we have seen on this trip, and his only problem was that he had a slight fear of bridges. A problem for a horse working in a place where most of the roads have to cross water.

We passed one small village, complete with mud huts in the banco architecture we'd come to recognise in the following weeks, where some children ran out and waved, shouting "Tuoab, Tuoab" - colloquial West African for tourist/white man. We continued down the dusty red road and eventually came to the banks of the Bani, where we had to wait for the ferry across. While waiting we got a taste of the tourism industry in Mali, with women hawking 'authentic' masks, bracelets and fabrics to us, before we'd even set our eyes on Djennè! A sign of things to come in the next few weeks.

After another hour a la horse 'n' cart on the other side of the river, we arrived at Djennè. Because of the positioning of Djennè in the inland delta, most of the town is encircled by water, and our entrance was made all the more regal by having to cross a small bridge (that the horse took well), where people were fishing and washing. What a sight it must've been to see us arrive!

After paying the driver for the early morning ride, we found our way through the mazy sidestreets to Chez Baba - a cheap place almost next to the main attraction in Djennè; the mud mosque.