Design that Matters Field Journal

In Sevare

After a twelve-hour bus ride, we bid farewell to the traffic and humidity in Bamako for the red cliffs and desert heat in Sevare. We've reached the zone of the baobab trees, unmistakable with their massive trunks and crazily-twisted branches. Although we're much closer to the desert, being the rainy season it's still remarkably green here. On the road, we passed flooded rice paddies and sandy fields with corn and peanuts. We saw groves of mango trees (although nothing like those in Siby), and teams of little kids tilling the earth with ox-drawn plows.

We spent the night in air-conditioned luxury at the Mankan Te. We'll pass the afternoon touring Mopti, but it'll be an early night as we leave for Dogon Country tomorrow morning at 6 AM.

Sevare is the first place we've visited that I can truly claim to recognize from previous trips to Mali. That said, a lot has changed since 1997. The forest of NGO signs lining the road at the entrance to town has grown, and now includes all the modern development lingo (wetlands conservation, microenterprise development, etc). The Mankan Te restaurant--where Scott and I practiced our judo flips--has gone upscale, with tablecloths on the patio and a new disco ball in the salon. The Peace Corps stage house has moved to a different part of town, and there's now a gigantic gas station across the street. They've put in a new tourist shop next door, which includes this fancy (if incredibly slow) internet cafe.

This morning, I arranged for our trip to Dogon Country with Hassimi Guindo, our guide. Hassimi is a bright young man from Ende, a Dogon village south of Bandiagara. Unlike our blistering 1996 hike from Douentza to Sanga--which Scott and I later christened the "Dogon death march"--this time we'll be travelling in colonial style, with a donkey cart to carry our backpacks and real food awaiting us each night. By skipping the dehydration headaches and mystery meat by candlelight, I may be short-changing the students on a "real" Mali experience, but now that they know the way they can always come back!