Up the falaise

After lunch (and politely declining to buy any of the mass produced stuff that was on show in the villages) we picked up the pace and found Baba suddenly turning left into the cliff side. Looking up we joked about climbing up to the top, through a gap between two giant pieces of rock - the size of six-storey buildings. And that's where we ended up.

Passing through an abandoned, overgrown village just off the plain floor, we cut up steep rocks and had a bit of a tough climb (compared to the walking we were used to!) to get up higher. The further we went the better the views got, until after some hands-and-feet climbing action we made it to the crest of the falaise. It was literally am-az-ing. Best view I have ever seen in my life. With the plain spread out beneath us, we had a clear sight miles away towards the Burkina border. Villages seemed microscopic and the vastness of the view from hundreds of feet up truly took my breath away. A definite highlight so far.

But that's not to say Baba was eager to take it in. I don't know if he'd just seen it so often before, or wanted to get to the next village for another joint, but he was off, barely giving us five minutes respite from the walk, let alone any time to appreciate the stunning view. Tilly wasn't too happy either. She didn't seem to be enjoying the trek as much as us, and at one point said she was "bored". Each to their own I guess. We loved it!

The breeze at the top made a noticeable difference as we walked along through a gap in between the two rocks. The drop down was pretty scary, and we had some skulls pointed out to us high on the rock face; a sacred Dogon place, so no pictures! Carrying on along the plateau at the top of the falaise, the enormity of the view didn't dwindle. We walked right by the top of the cliff for about another few kilometres before cutting into the plateau. After a bit more trekking we appeared at the top of a ridge, where the view seemed like a small part of the Grand Canyon - smaller, obviously, but with giant orange 'fingers' of rock, pointing straight up. Pretty damn impressive.

Across the small valley was a village tucked into the mountain side. Baba shouted across to ask if they had room for us to stay. Nice to know how organised he was! The village was called Begnimato, and was pretty touristy. It seemed that anyone who was doing any kind of trek in the Dogon Country (walking, by car or even a day trip) had stopped for the night here. For a village with a population of around 400 people, they seemed to have an awful lot of tourists staying the night (60+). It seemed quite sad that this beautiful setting had rooms for people to stay in, a separate shower and toilet block, and set tables and chairs for dinner...

We seemed to arrive pretty late in the day, but decided to go for it and sleep under the stars. After a great meal of pork and rice, for which Baba had to steal a table, a lantern and chairs from other groups (!) we sat with some millet beer and chatted with our infamous guide. Well, he was sat still for a little while, so it seemed rude not to! Millet beer has a strange taste, not very alcoholic, but its like a weak, cloudy ale that tastes of fermenting. Better than palm wine by a long way though. We were all pretty shattered and so headed to sleep on the roof - with stolen mozzie nets and mattresses (probably!).