Blane Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 (edited) popping online for the first time in a while to say a quick hello. been on the road for a bit over a week now and loving the country. great people (despite the occasional hassles) beautiful historical and natural scenery and great friggin' weather. Will be back in Canada in less than a month now, so I'll look forward to catch up with folks in late october.ciao! Edited September 28, 2007 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popo weenie Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 hello from canadanice to hear you are enjoying your triptake care caeo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popo weenie Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 oops ciao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bagochips Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Hey Blane, glad to hear you are getting some vacation time in. If you get a chance, go to the Hogon. It's an outdoor club in Bamako, and Toumani Diabate plays there most Friday nights. Or so I'm told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevO Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Enjoy Blane!ps - I'd like to talk to you about some tings. When you're back in the mother land, I'm gonna give you a ring ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blane Posted September 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 figured I'd put up a couple of photos from the trip. Gord, I got into Bamako at like 1:30am on Friday after a harrowing 12 hour bus ride and couldn't make it out, so no Hogon for me, but did make it to Djembe for some amazing "open mic night" style malian performances. That city is unreal for live music. Basically, I followed the Niger river from Bamako into Dogon country several hundred kms inland, then worked my way back to the coast. Saw lots of varied and incredible scenery. Well worth the visit if you ever have the chance. didn't make it to Timbuctu as it's a tough slog during the wet season and I was on a limited time budget. A few images from the journey... Kids fishing on the Niger Sunset on the Niger More sunset on the Niger Heading into Dogon Country Dogon Village Sitting on the Bandiagara escarpment looking toward Burkina Faso The Mosque in Djenne. The largest mud building in the world. Female Koranic scholars leaving their school. Djenne is still a city of muslim scholars for west africa. There are schools everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Those pictures are ridiculously nice Blane. Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 very cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 really beautiful (stark...and beautiful) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Stunning! I do imagine the audio there would be pretty mindblowing too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark tonin Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Wowzie wow wow ... great pics ... thanks for sharing.Peace, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Watch out for UFOs in Dogon country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blane Posted September 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 yeah they believe they originally came from Sirius (the star). Amazing story about that...In Dogon lore (as transcribed by a French ethnographer in the 1930s or 40s) Sirius is actually 3 stars, one big one, a little one, and one which is invisible and purely energy. Well western scientists first believed that Sirius was one star, then in the 60s (i believe) with new technology, discovered that there is a much smaller star alongside it. Finally in 1995 with a new super-telescope they discovered that there is indeed a 3rd star to Sirius which is almost invisible to the eye. Kinda wild eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggo Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 COOL pics!! i love the one of the mud-mosque. looks like it's been around for a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phishtaper Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Sirius is actually 3 stars, one big one [Howard Stern], a little one [bubba the Love Sponge], and one which is invisible and purely energy [Martha Stewart].stunning pics, Blane. wowser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blane Posted September 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 COOL pics!! i love the one of the mud-mosque. looks like it's been around for a very long time. Well it has and it hasn't...The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest mud brick or adobe building in the world and is considered by many architects to be the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, albeit with definite Islamic influences. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali on the flood plain of the Bani River. The first mosque on the site was built in the 13th century, but the current structure dates from 1907. As well as being the centre of the community of Djenné, it is one of the most famous landmarks in Africa. Along with the "Old Towns of Djenné" it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Is there any way to take a bad photo there? Those are stunning. Do you have a bigger gallery on flickr or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allison Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 The first photograph is by far my favorite...it's incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bagochips Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Too cool, Blane. Thanks for sharing. I've been thinking about hitting Peru for my 40th, now you've got me thinking about Mali!More photos please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blane Posted September 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) thanks for all the kind words folks. Actually I was a bit disappointed with how a lot of my photos came out. I think I've managed to slightly damage my camera over the past month with all the bumping around and crushing it in the back of vehicles and screwed up the autofocus just slightly enough for it to be annoying. (Mike, do you know anything about reported problems with the D70's backfocus?). This means that a lot of the landscape photos turned out ok, but some of the closeups aren't sharp. Anyhow, there is a sorta excessive number of them on flickr here: But there's like 60 of them so it's a bit of a slog. Gord, Peru vs. Mali? Tough friggin' call. I loved both. Peru's got more varied scenery and is way less hassle, but Mali feels like more of a "feat" if you will. Peru's probably cheaper in the long run too. There are a number of my Peru photos up on that flickr page I think if you feel like flipping through them. Also, if you're going to Peru you've GOTTA throw Bolivia in. Equally or even more impressive. Edited September 28, 2007 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggo Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 COOL pics!! i love the one of the mud-mosque. looks like it's been around for a very long time. Well it has and it hasn't... interesting! i thought for sure it was from way back, like the 13th century one mentioned in the spiel. still really cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainsunshine Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 so cool! i love this one my last nikon had the same problem after getting dropped and when i took it back to nikon they told me they couldn't fix it (well they said they no longer make the parts - which is my biggest pet peeve ever!!! on a product only a few years old - and told me to buy a new camera. grrr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Apparently the Big Bang Theory has been a part of the Dogon philosophy as long as anyone can figure. Plus they make fetishes out of chairs, which is apparently unique on this planet. Lots of UFO connections to the Dogons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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