We are up early at 5 AM given all the noises - animal noises - in the village. Between the roosters and the donkeys and who knows what else, it is quite noisy. We lay in the tent, watching the sky slowly light up and change colors as the sun rises. Some of us were up early to do their exercises, which fascinated the local children - some of whom joined in. We pack up our tent and stuff shortly after 6 AM and have breakfast. Breakfast consists largely of the Dogon doughnuts - made fresh for us right there.
Following breakfast, we hang out for a while and then at 7:30 AM we head off for the next village. We are glad that we are getting an early start before it gets too hot. While the walking is easy, it is very hot and the sun beats down on you. On our way to the next Dogon village, Earle, we stop at the sacred crocodile pond - which does contain a few crocodiles. We could just see their eyes and snouts protruding from the waters.
We continue our walk along the base of the escarpment, passing a number of Dogon villages along the way. We can also observe the old, Tellem houses built on the escarpment wall. We continue to be amazed by them and wonder how they could build them and live in them. Some were very high up the cliff face.
We arrive at Erale at 9:30 AM and walk around the village. We see the old village, the toguna and the village chief's house. We then stop at 10:45 AM at a guest house, where we will have lunch and relax, prior to hiking on in the late afternoon to the next village, where we will be staying for the night. Other than when we have lunch, we lay around and nap. It is very hot out and we do not want to be walking around in the sun.
At 3:30 PM, after it has cooled off a bit and the sun is lower in the sky, we begin our walk to the next village. Again we are walking along the base of the escarpment. We arrive at Banane at 4:30 PM. We first set up our tent on the roof of one of the buildings. This village is not as nice to stay in as the other ones. The guest house complex is built using modern materials and is quite cramped - there were quite a few people stuffed in. And as we could not stroll around and explore the village on our own - too many sacred places we might stumble into - it was a bit stifling. But after setting up our tent, we looked at some of the wood carvings and other things they had for sale. We looked around and eyed a number of pieces and started the long process of getting a good price.
Dinner was at 7:45 PM and after taking it easy for a while, we retired to our tent at 9 PM, where we watched the stars and the night sky as we fell asleep.