Ouch! That Monkey Just Bit Me! Backpacking West Africa..

This blog post was originally published for Do It While You're Young, a community and network for women ages 18-35 who previously or are currently traveling, studying, working, or volunteering abroad.

I’m a believer that your age should never be greater than the number of countries you’ve visited.

I’ve lived in Europe, volunteered in Asia, and done quick stints in Australia and across North America. Couchsurfing, solo traveling, Contiki tours, eco-service trips, Peace Corps, you name it! Though a passion for travel still ignites a fire in my petite belly, there aren’t many experiences that can really make me say, “This is crazy!” Until a few months ago; however, two girlfriends and I decided to backpack West Africa for 24 days…

Mali – The Gem of Africa

Staying at the Sleeping Camel in Bamako allowed us to acquire the “need-to-know” information about the city. The Artisan market had an incredible selection of wood crafts and jewelry forcing the three of us to stock up (why I bought a drum the first day to carry around I still don’t know!). The music scene and night life on Route de Bla Bla – yes, that’s really its name – allowed us to kick off our trip in full force.

There may be nothing more awe-inspiring than UNESCO’s World Heritage town of Djenne. It’s here where we were mesmerized by the Grand Mosque- the largest mosque in the world made completely from mud! Not only are the homes constructed from mud as well, but they are multi-storied creating an ancient town of varying building heights.

Soon it was time for our three day hike across Dogon Country. At arrival our guide stated “We are going to hike for 15 kilometers this afternoon. This will take five hours if you walk well.” Keep in mind that I’m a former New Yorker that used to take the subway from 34^th to 42^nd Street! Nonetheless, sleeping on roofs under the stars and seeing pure, untouched Africa was incredibly surreal. During our (ridiculously long) hike, we came across Tiogou, a village built on rock formations supporting waterfalls and Youga Dogourou, a village where inhabitants live inside a mountain’s crevices!

Burkina Faso – No Man’s Land

After an ATM fiasco (let’s just say $400US was taken out of my checking account though I never physically received the money!), we jumped on an 8-hour bus to Bobo-Dioulasso (where you ask?!). Yes, Burkina is very much OFF the beaten path, part of its lure! The country is one of the poorest in the world, yet since it is a transport country, the roads are upkept.

We received a local tip to shop at Gafreh Boutique, a fair-trade store that showcases products created from recycled plastic bags. At Banfora, we touched the Karfiguela Waterfalls and the Sand Domes of Fabedougou before heading off to Burkina’s capital, Ouagadougou (say this five times fast!).

Togo – Not the Sandwich, But a Lovely Country

When we reached Togo, we searched the village of Goundoga for a secret “castle in a cliff” (okay, maybe not too secret as we read about it in a Lonely Planet guide, but it’s definitely not a touristy place)! While traveling there, I realized we had no clue where we would spend the night. “Would you like to stay at the chief’s house?” my chauffeur inquired. Yes!

It turns out our “castle in the cliff” was actually a mini-fortress with a steel ladder built into the side of Mt. Semoo during the 19^th century. The Chokossi had established an empire; however, the Moba resented this and built the fortress to hide from soldiers and tax collectors. Just like the IRS!

After a 12-hour ride (yes, 12 hours!), we welcomed the cool-climate of Kpalime, a tropical paradise amongst hilly forests, artisan markets, and cocoa and coffee farms. The best activity to do here: butterfly hunting!

Lome was my favorite city of the trip with its gorgeous beaches (check out Aneho too!), great shopping, delicious restaurants (Vietnamese pho anyone?) and voodoo! An affordable place to stay is Le Galion, which is walking distance to the beach. I would have recommended Chez Alice, 12km away in Aveposo, but the hostel’s monkey bit me!

Benin – Beaches and Stilts

The trip ended with a quick stop to Grand Popo – another beach resort (we needed it!) and Ganvie, a stilt village only reachable by canoe! At Ganvie, 30,000 Tofinu people live in stilt houses that sit two meters above water. Back in the 17^th century, the Tofinu fled here to escape slavery as their attempted captors, the Dahomey, were afraid of water and disallowed to enter it due to religion.

Be warned: backpacking West Africa is not for the novice tourist or for those lacking patience! Bush taxis (i.e. squeezing 8 people into a taxi!), non-existent time-tables, a beating African sun, and constant negotiation are just the realities of a trip like this. However, for those searching for adventure, you will find nothing less!

Running From the Border: A Journey Across West Africa

We knew that before we finished our service, we wanted to explore other parts of Africa. So on a rainy night in Yaounde, we bought our tickets to fly to Mali in July! We’d head overland to visit Lindsey’s best friend serving in Peace Corps Burkina Faso, bush taxi down to Togo, and fly back from Benin.

Getting there was a triumph in itself as direct flights weren’t an option and we first flew to Ethiopia. Though we searched Couchsurfing for a place to spend the night’s layover, Ethiopian Airlines took care of us by putting us up in a swanky hotel complete with hot showers and an all-you-can-eat buffet. The next day, we flew to Togo to pick up some more passengers, and then finally landed in Bamako, Mali.

Our journey flying across Africa!

The whirlwind trip included climbing mountains, butterfly hunting, canoeing across lakes and rivers, napping on beaches, dancing all night, and shopping for everything from Obama pagne to hand-woven and decorated mud cloth. The trip was even more memorable as we met world-famous fashion designers, Peace Corps Volunteers, chiefs of villages, and some of the nicest random people that helped us out from time to time.

Hiking between villages in Dogon Country, Mali

A small boy sells fans at the Grande Marche, Bamako, Mali

People always ask us of the trip “Was it the same as Cameroon?” On surface level, yes, pagne was everywhere and transportation was uncomfortable, but when you take a deeper look, each country was beautiful in its own way. In Mali, we found not only mud homes, but ones that were multi-storied creating an ancient town of varying building heights. Burkina Faso, being a transport country, had remarkable roads and the nicest people (no “white man” or “nassara” yells!). Togo was a mix of tiny villages in the North, lush rain forests in the South, and beautiful beaches on the coast with voodoo culture thrown in. Benin was a great place to end with a trip to Ganvie, a village that rests on stilts!

The largest mud mosque in the world, Grand Mosquee, Djenne, Mali

Banfora Waterfalls, Burkina Faso

Stilt village of Ganvié, Benin

However, this is not to say that the trip was without its challenges! Bush taxis almost every day, a car accident with a visit to PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) Burkina, five-hour long hikes beneath the beating African sun, worm and rash outbreaks, monkey attacks, and a brief runaway stint from the Togolese border are just the realities of backpacking West Africa. Luckily, we’ve mastered the fine art of negotiation; I saved us from paying 5.000CFA in Mopti, Mali for a “mandatory” visa extension fee and let’s just say that Lindsey Dattels has a future immigration officer husband waiting for her in the Contonou airport who allowed us to board the plane back to Cameroon.

Monkey attacks are no fun on a vacation

If you’re looking for an adventure (because it was anything but relaxing!), consider backpacking West Africa. We’ll send you our Excel itinerary!

*Note: The first version of this article appeared in the November 2011 edition of the US Peace Corps Cameroon's Small Enterprise Development Gazette.

Mud-Cloth Making in (Segou) Mali

After realizing that we couldn't make it in one day to Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso (yes, these are names of a city and country respectively), we traveled just a few hours to Segou. Often forgotten when overshadowed by Djenne and Dogon Country, Segou and its port make for a worthwhile stop!

After yesterday's ATM fiasco, Lindsey and I tried pulling out money again. First ATM...fail. Second ATM...fail. Third ATM...sigh. We were about ready to give up, but Bank of Africa to the rescue! This was a relief as I literally had empty pockets and we needed to buy visas at the Malian-Burkina border.

After running around for a bit with a rickshaw taxi, we were able to buy tickets for the next morning's eight-hour bus ride. Whew! Two big headaches out of the way.

Strolling by the port, Lindsay and I bought a bunch of bracelets, postcards, and general trinkets at the artisan boutiques. Note: If you ever see a man with a Lakers jersey, buy from him! He'll give you fair, non-tourist prices :)

For 6.000CFA (~$12), we found ourselves in another canoe to the artisan center of Ateliers SOROBLE in Bogolan .

My new wooden turtle is so excited to see mud-cloth!

Atelier Soroble (23 21 367; soroblecentre@yahoo.fr) is a mud-cloth workshop that sells beautiful hand-woven and painted works! We were able to walk the entire premises watching cloth being spun to admiring the finishing touches. Who knew mud could be so elegant?

Spinning cloth and rocking an Abercrombie t-shirt!

The different colors are made from different mixtures of mud - gorgeous!

On the way back, Lindsey gracefully handles men from Timbuktu

At dinner at Hotel Djoliba, we had the most amazing service that I've seen here in West Africa. Often while eating, I take short rests (I'm a slow eater, it happens). Upon seeing one of my breaks, the waiter came over to ask if there was anything in my pasta. Umm, meat? It turns out that because I only took a few bites and then sat back, he assumed that it wasn't good and was checking up on me! In a world where customer service doesn't really exist (no smiles, orders taken and plates given at different times, hunts to find the waiters, etc.), this was refreshing!

Tomorrow: Burkina Faso!

I Hiked a Mountain and All I Got Was an ATM That Ate My Money

Final day of our hike across Dogon Country! The 6:30AM departure allowed us to start before the sun came out. We thought the intensity was behind us as we passed the villages of Anou, Ibi, Nini, and Banani (yes, I have a good memory!) without any problems…and then we realized that Sangha rested on the TOP of a mountain. Here we go!

Look closely! Do you see the waterfall?

What's one more mountain after hiking for two days straight? Oy vey...

Village of Banani

At the top, we received a much needed break while a group of young girls found us to be quite the attraction. I held a staring contest with two of the kids, but only beat one of them.

They may look cute until they start harassing you for candy - I really don't have any!

Note: When hiking Dogon Country, do NOT give away candy/gifts to the kids! This builds the notion that foreigners are rich and this has already led to kids following and bothering all along the trail. Aid does not equal handouts.

With our original chauffeur in Timbuktu (literally, not figuratively), we waited a bit after lunch for the new chauffeur to come. This was actually a great opportunity as it allowed us to explore the artisan boutiques and see indigo dye making. So pretty!

Indigo dye-making

Women carrying traditional calabashes

After two hours to Bandiagara and one hour to Severe, we stopped by the bank(s) to pull out money to pay our driver. The ATM at Ecobank (which didn’t work before for me) had a red barrier preventing any cards from entering. At another local bank, Liz’s Visa card wouldn’t work. At Bank of Africa, Lindsey’s card wouldn’t work, but Liz could get money. One down, two to go.

Knowing that there was an Ecobank in Mopti (fifteen minutes away), we stated to the driver that we’d give him another 5.000CFA to take us there. Well, the Ecobank ATM in Mopti accepted the card, but my money never came out of the machine! I checked the balance of the account and the ATM debited the 200.000CFA ($450US) I never received! Where’s my money?!

As the bank was closed (Friday evening) and I had a panic attack, a man popped up out of nowhere and inquired why the foreigners were so alarmed. Luck was on our side as he was the chief of the branch and just happened to own a boutique across the street and saw us. After explaining the situation, he brought us into the branch and called the main office in Bamako. He was also kind enough to allow me to use his phone to call our contact in Cameroon – too bad she hung up on me!

He filled out a Reclamation Form and stated that Cameroon will take care of crediting my account, but there would be nothing that could be done that day. And Lindsey? She tried three other ATMs and still could not pull money out…sigh…c’est la vie.

I bet this guy doesn't have to worry about ATM issues

*As of October 23, 2011, Ecobank Cameroon credited the missing 200.000CFA! All was not lost!

Hiking a Mountain to Discover the Village Within

Today would be Day 2 of our three-day trek across Dogon Country. Seven hours of walking, here we go!

Tip: If you are traveling across Dogon Country, bring snacks (i.e. peanuts) and Gatorade! There aren’t too many options along the road.

With the day just beginning, the first hour was a simple walk through farms and fields (of course, our tour guide, Amadou, continued to carry me over his shoulders anytime we came across a river). The hike drastically changed; however, as we approached...a mountain.

“Are we climbing that or are we walking that?” I asked. “Juste comme ça (just like this),” Amadou stated while lifting his knees up. As we realized we would be walking and not rock climbing, we were in.

See that patch of green grass? That's where we started!

Hiking up rocks and jumping from boulder to boulder was tiring to say the least! After an hour or so of traversing the “trail,” we came across a rest point at the ancient pygmy village of the Tellums. The Tellums were the indigenous people to the area before the Dogon people arrived. Believ!e it or not, they actually built dwellings directly into cliffsides!

Tellum pygmy village. Could you live in a cliff?

Basket weaving!

Amadou then gave us two choices to continue on: 1) We could take the usual trail that leads to the ladder, which would be more dangerous or 2) We could take the safer way, but wouldn’t see the village in the mountain.

It’s moments like this that are highly frustrating when there are language barriers! Amadou stated that we shouldn’t do the ladder and I understood that it was because the ladder was 90 degrees upright for an hour’s walk. After discussing some more, we understood that the ladder would take just a five minute climb. Finally, another man stated that the ladder was easy and found us a practice ladder that was just 2 meters long. When we asked Amadou again, he stated that the ladder was dangerous because we were women and women were not strong enough for the ladder. Game on, Amadou!

We decided that we must attempt the ladder! Actually, we agreed that we would just walk to the ladder, look at it to see the safety of it, and then decide if we wanted to climb it (hey, safety first, right?). Continuing the hike, we came across the top of the mountain and traversed a bridge constructed completely of rocks and wood. Surprisingly, our porter had phone signal and could make a call albeit the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere!

Don't worry, Mom and Dad. If I'm posting this, that means I'm fine!

We finally reached the ladderit was a tiny two meter ladder. Even if you lost your footing, there was a wooden patch of sticks that would save you. All that hoopla for something so simple!

The two-meter ladder was obviously frightening!

After our death-defying climb down the ladder, we realized that we were literally inside the mountain’s crevices! It was about twenty degrees cooler and as we wove in and out of caves, we even found a man-made river.

The village of Youga Dogourou sits inside and on the mountain!

I finally hit my hiking wall after the village of Youga Dogourou as I started slipping and sliding on all the rocks from general fatigue. Amadou was patient as I grabbed his arm while descending the mountain. Thank goodness we received lunch and a long four-hour break at Youga Na!

The village of Youga Na

We started back up again at 4PM and walked an hour and a half to Hotel Togouma in the village of Coundou, population 1,000. Exhaustion!

The Start of our Hike of Dogon Country, Mali

Today, we would trek what many seasoned travelers rave about: Dogon Country, Mali. Settling on a three-day hike, we received the contact of tour guide Amadou from Malian PCV, Jeremy Coats.

After calculating everything for Dogon Country (50.000CFA/person, 30.000CFA/car ride to Sangha), I would have about 3.000CFA left ($3US). Thank goodness for my travel mates as the Ecobank ATM was out of commission!

Amadou arranged a driver for us (who was appropriately named Amadou as well), but as a good husband, the driver decided to stay at home to tend to his sick wife. Thus, our chauffeur ended up being a very elderly senior citizen that barely spoke a word of French. His age would have fooled you though as his playlist included Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?” and Cyndi Lauper's “Girls Just Want to Have Fun!”

After the driver was lost for a bit (story of our lives), we found a farmer that showed us the way to Bandiagara. Bandiagara was only about an hour from Mopti – too bad it was another two hours to Sangha!

Note: Tours of Dogon Country usually begin in Bandiagara or Sangha. Bandiagara is the more typical path as there are the Falaise de Bandiagara/Cliffs of Bandiagara with sandstone cliffs labeled as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; however, Sangha is more off the beaten trail. Dealer’s choice!

Traditional medicine man, Sangha, Dogon Country, Mali

Amadou had just finished hiking for three days with Jeremy and instantly came to hike with us! I was a bit surprised at his announcement right before lunch though.

“We are going to hike for 15km this afternoon. That will take about five hours if you walk well,” he stated. Sigh…this is being told to a former New Yorker that used to take the subway from 34^th Street to 42^nd Street.

Tip: Always get the porter! It’s only 5.000CFA/person for all three days, but he will hold ALL your baggage with ease!

This is a happy me before the five-hour hike...photos of an angry me after the hike will not be posted

So off we went hiking underneath the beating African sun with just a bottle of water in one hand and a camera in the other. After our starting point at the village of Sangha, we walked straight on a continuous (and sometimes never-ending) journey. There were barely any people and each small village was miles from the next one. There was no end in sight until…

We reached the beautiful village of Tiogou! To the right of us was a river and to the left were the village houses. We walked down a bit more and realized the village was built on rock formations and water would trickle down step by step forming a village on waterfalls! Each step was more beautiful than the first – silly me for wanting to conserve my camera battery and not making a video!

The beautiful village of Tiogou!

We had the opportunity to ford some small rivers, but I just let the porter and tour guide carry me over (i.e. as the rivers could have diseases like schistosomiasis!). We reached the village of Yendouma right at sunset. With a population of only 800, Yendouma brings enough tourism to have Hotel Mare aux Caima cater to guests.

Our sleeping arrangements on the rooftop of Hotel Mare aux Caima complete with mosquito nets

Sunset over Dogon Country - gorgeous!

The spaghetti and meat dinner with Yogi tea (thanks RPCV Eric!) was an excellent way to finish the day before going to bed on the rooftop (way too hot to sleep inside!)