Dogon in Mali, West Africa

These photos were taken in the region of the Dogon in Mali, West Africa. This structure is where men go to resolve disputes. The disputants along with other important men of the village sit or crouch beneath the tall and heavy crisscrossed layers of wood, and no one leaves until the disagreement is resolved.  This may take minutes, hours or days.  

I actually have been to Timbuktu and back! In 1977 out of the sky the impossibly amazing opportunity fell to me to travel with a group of 10 others in two Land Rovers (owned by three of the party and stored in Marsailles since another trip 2 years previously to Johannesburg) across a significant stretch of Arab Africa from Algiers south across the Sahara into West Africa in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, returning back across the Sahara to the Mediterranean through Tunisia. Three months we were on the road, and no two moments were the same. 


I learned quickly that if I wanted a photograph I had to take it immediately.  There were no second chances. Every day, every minute, was utterly astounding and totally outside my experience. As a bonus, my sister and her husband were in Burkina Faso doing graduate work, and we got to spend a couple of days with them in Ouagadougou, which was fun.


The first of every month is Theme Day at City Daily Photo.  This month's theme is Waiting.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants