The trek back out of the Dogon country was a nightmare. Our guide wanted to hire donkeys at a ridiculous rate so we refused and decided to walk. We had a 17km trek across sand in a temperature of more than 40 degrees Celsius. It took us an exhausting 4 hours to reach the main road and the town of Bankass. We arrived severely dehydrated, there were times during the trek that we wondered whether we would make it! In Bankass we separated from our guide and were independent again. We couldn't find a hostel, but we managed to borrow a piece of foam and sleep out behind a bar!
From Bankass we had another couple of days battle with Mali's transport system to get to the Border with Burkina Faso - Mali sure was a challenge to one's patience! After much deliberation we decided that the only way we were ever going to get to the border was to hire a taxi.
On 20th March we crossed the frontier between Mali and Burkina Faso at a remote border post. We only spent a few days in Burkina Faso, mostly in the capital Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso is situated in the never ending featureless sahel region, so we figured there wasn't really too much to see except the capital. We had a cool time in 'Ouaga', including spending the evening in a funky disco in the heart of town and getting a little carried away with the beer!
(to be continued)
