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Djenne was a day trip from Mopti back down towards Segou, and across the Bani River. In the rainy season Djenne becomes an island surrounded by the Bani.
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The river in March is very low, and the ferry had to be pushed off. |
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A woman selling masks on the ferry. |
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The Djenne mosque is the largest mud building in the world, and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Monday is market day in Djenne. |
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These multicolored plastic buckets were everywhere we went in West Africa. You can buy them in France in the same stores that sell African masks, which has to be counted as sympathetic magic of some kind. The markup on African masks in the shops of Paris is severe, and the markup on the plastic buckets is the same. Only, why would you pay a lot for a mask, and what part of this argument applies to a striped plastic bucket made in China? The souvenir industry is a paradox. |
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Barbecued sheep. |
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Carrots carried on someone's head. |
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The mosque's minarets are decorated with ostrich eggs. |
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Entry to the mosque is forbidden to non-Muslims like ourselves... |
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... unless someone whispers "psst — would you like to see inside the mosque?" |
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The mosque is reminiscent of the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, in that the mud roof is so heavy that the pillars holding it up must be massive and spaced very closely together, so that there is little remaining floor space. You can't get a view of the whole interior. Inside the Djenne Market... |
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A shop selling many masks. None of them seemed incredibly special or high-quality, but perhaps it didn't matter — masks we saw for $50 or less were selling in Paris for more than $1000. |
