The Landscape of Mali

The Landscape of Mali

After traveled from Bamako to Gao I now have a first hand experience of the landscapes and terrain that make up what is definitely a beautiful Mali.

In the south, Mali consists of lush tropical forests interrupted by many agricultural fields. Some of these southern areas dry up for part of the year but overall it is a green haven for life of all kinds. However, southern Mali is also well populated, so although there is plenty of natural vegetation to make it sustainable and beautiful, there are also many villages and cities throughout, this explains why most of the large wildlife has been exploited from the southern Mali despite its futility. It is also significant in that there is no large space; call it wilderness, in which life could go on without human impact. The only wilderness in Mali is the Sahara Desert.

I have little actual experience in the landscape of southern Mali seeing how my Home Stay was in the city of Bamako, but if you look at the pictures I took of the Bambera villages I visited on that one day – that’s the best I’ll have to show you for a while…

In the Middle, Mali consists of semi arid, somewhat savanna like, landscape known as the Mopti region. This region is renowned for having beautiful cliffs, between 100-800 feet high, and a striking contrast between a very green and beautiful rainy season, and a very brown and dry hot season. Mopti is also famous for the Dogon people who live in and bury their dead in the cliffs. The Dogons are Animists, so for them, God specifically lives in some of the sacred rocks in their area, and are thus not usable by people (especially outsiders) – a good conservation method for sure!!! As this region is the most beautiful, I have posted some pictures below… The pictures were taken while driving between Bamako and Gao. Overall the cliffs are about 3 to 4 hours southwest of Gossi, right off the main road between Mopti and Gao. I am sure Bess and I will trek through this region at some point in time, just as the tourists do, but perhaps we will visit our PC friends living in this region.

I am not going to describe much about northern Mali because this is where Bess and I will be living and over time the landscape will become very apparent through this blog. However, one should know that my site, Gossi, is in a part of the desert that has a very green and wet rainy season (See Pics from Gossi Site Description) and then for most of the year goes very brown in the dry season. It is also very flat. What you might imagine when you picture the Sahara Desert, that’s not Gossi, Gossi is still south of the Niger river, northern Mali, like the Kidal region – that’s where you will find fine grain powdery sand dunes going on forever…