Well, after last night neither myself nor Anne were happy with the accommodation so first thing this morning we went out in search of alternate arrangements. We had read about a few places that were quite some distance away so we set out to find them.

Djenné is very interesting. All the streets are mud as are the buildings. There has been a lot of rain here recently so it was very muddy. Evidently when it is not the rainy season it is supposed to be quite dusty.

Walking down the streets we were bothered by a few youngsters wanting “cadeaux” (gifts, of money, preferably) or wanting to be our guides but “non” seemed to work at dissuading them. We walked along the road to the left of the mosque where we were assured (using the guidebook map) we would eventually find the hotel. “Eventually” being the operative word we walked for about 10 minutes before we came to the outskirts of the village and the most expensive hotel in Djenné: La Maafir which we took a quick look in – 19,000 CFA (for two people sharing) and you get a very nice room with en-suite and an amazing courtyard with trees and grass. Quite nice. We took a look next door at another hotel – Tapama Djenepo – that was slightly cheaper at 12,500 CFA though Anne and I both agreed it was fine and we would take it.

The hotel seems to be in the same style as many of the compounds we have seen so far: it is a square with a central courtyard with the building all around which, in this case, is three stories high. This building is in the “Moroccan” style with carved shutters on each window and an ornate door. The compound is pretty much used by guests and local people alike as there seems to be a few families living there as well. There is a tree in the middle of the compound that is absolutely swarming with weaver birds (very noisy, hope they are quiet tonight!) and they also have some doves. According to the boy that showed us the rooms they are special doves – coming from Mecca. Well, there are certainly a good number and they are also extremely spoiled, with their own nesting boxes in one of the rooms off the courtyard and fed throughout the day.

We returned to the other hotel to retrieve our bags – stepping carefully in the streets to avoid the mud. Diana seems to have a stomach-ache that she is blaming on the chicken from last night though Anne had some and seems to be fine. They indicated they were going to go to stay at the Campement de Djenné where they felt they would be more comfortable (it is quite a nice hotel according to the books we have read). We were lucky last night to get the room as we noticed a number of people sleeping outside the room in the porch area. Not exactly a lot of privacy.

Returning to our new hotel I took the opportunity of having a shower/bath to wash my jeans which were beginning to get a bit…smelly. It is very nice having your own room when you can do such things. We visited the roof of the hotel that offered tremendous views of the city. On one side we could see past the houses of the city into the surrounding small lakes and pastureland. The other side was the city itself with mud roofs as far as the eye could see – all different and all showing signs of life with people putting up washing or, to our amusement, a young boy singing and dancing with himself. Hearing our chuckles he quickly disappeared. The big mosque in the centre of the city is clearly visible from here with it's tall towers each topped with (we learned) an ostrich egg. We were quite some distance from the ground – about three stories, all told.

I returned to the room to relax while Anne took to reading in the courtyard. It was the heat of the day and we are quickly learning that you do not do too much between about 11 and 3 every day because of the heat. The people of the compound offered her some fish with tomato sauce on rice as that is what they were having for lunch (in a communal bowl). We thought this was very generous of them and Anne assured me it tasted quite good.

The room is very comfortable with a fan and even electricity! The beds were side by side but we separated them to be on two of the walls of the main room. It is a bit crowded but very clean and comfortable. I relaxed pretty much the whole of the afternoon.

After it had cooled down a bit we decided to go up to see Chris and Sue at their hotel to see how they were doing. As luck would have it they were not there so we continued on just around the corner to see what this “Campement” place looked like (a very nice hotel that has been around for longer than Maafir). It really is quite nice with a large bantaba in the centre of a large courtyard with paths leading through a garden area to rooms surrounding it on all sides. Very nice.

We continued our walk down a side street where we continued to dodge the puddles. We came across a man weaving using a fantastic loom with him sitting on the ground with strings leading out from the loom at least 10 meters! It seemed a bit of a shame that the fabric looked to us like dish cloths – so much work…Passing on our greetings we continued down the road until we came to an area (seeming to be the local rubbish tip) where we could see the countryside surrounding the city – in this case we could clearly see two of the causeways leading into Djenné.

We turned back and then made our way down some side streets heading towards the mosque. It was quite an interesting trip with our getting glances at many different places along the way. Eventually we did make it to the mosque. The city is getting ready for the market that is tomorrow. There seems to be stalls going up everywhere.

Heading back to Chris and Sue's hotel we sat in the small covered area outside of the hotel that served as the restaurant (basically a long table covered with the typical “Mali fabric” – hand woven cloth with simple designs in basic colours – with seats on either side under a woven roof). Sitting there I had a nice ice-cold Coke while Anne had some tea and we sat to watch them set-up for a wedding reception to be held in the square opposite. As we were sitting the wedding party went by on their way to some part of the event (the wedding itself perhaps). We also noticed, in our contemplations, a man that seemed to go by about 5 or 6 times on his motorcycle – often in the same direction leading one to wonder how he did that…

At about 5:30 Chris and Sue came out to join us. They had taken a tour today with one of the ever-present young “guides” who seem to follow us everywhere here (which they said was excellent) but had returned to their room due to a minor stomach upset. Heading out for a walk we returned along the road that we had taken yesterday (according to Sue and Chris, Anne and I couldn't see anything from our back seat!). We managed to get to just outside of the city where we stopped on top of a rather impressive (though short) concrete bridge where we could clearly see along the edge of the city and the setting sun. We sat and chatted for a few minutes moving occasionally to let some vehicle pass along behind us on the narrow bridge. There were certainly a lot of them so it will be interesting to see what the market looks like tomorrow!

Passing by the numerous cows and other livestock that seems to live on the streets here, we returned to the Campement where we sat down for dinner. It was quite pleasant – Cucumber (!) salad, beef curry with rice, and mangoes for afters – 3,000 CFA. The only unpleasantness about our meal was the bugs that seem to be everywhere at night and attracted to the lights of the bantaba. Diana, who is still not feeling all that well, joined us a bit later. She wanted just to get out of her room and socialise for a few minutes.

Heading back along the dark road we were able to guide a German family to their room at Maafir who did not seem to have a working flashlight (torch). On these streets with the puddles and numerous lowered areas that allow water to cross the road you could very easily find yourself stumbling and hurting yourself.

It was another pleasant day. Tomorrow is the hustle and bustle of one of the most famous markets in Africa.

⇒ Continue to Day 9 - Monday, July 26th, 2004

In Djenné Steve stayed at:

• Hôtel Residence Tapama (Djenepo), B.P. 32 - Telephone: (+223) 242 05 27 - mailto:residencetapama@yahoo.fr