The Bandiagara Escarpment is an escarpment in the Dogon country of Mali. The sandstonecliff rises about 500 meters above the lower sandy flats to the south. It has a length of approximately 150 kilometers. The area of the escarpment is inhabited today by the Dogonpeople. Before the Dogon, the escarpment was inhabited by the Tellem and Toloy peoples. Many structures remain from the Tellem.
The cave-dwelling Tellem, an ethnic group later pushed out by the arrival of the Dogons, used to live in the slopes of the cliff. The Tellem legacy is evident in the caves they carved into the cliffs so that they could bury their dead high up, far from the frequent flash floods of the area.R According to local oral history, the Dogon were relatively undisturbed by the French colonial powers due to the existence of a series of natural tunnels weaving through the Bandiagara Escarpment, which only the Dogon know about, and thus were able to use these caves to surprise and drive away any aggressors.
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| The Bandiagara Escarpment from Banimoto |
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| A partial view of the Bandiagara Escarpment |
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| On way to the site |
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| Remnant dwellings of the ancient Tellem people in the background, above the abandoned Dogon village; a mud mosque of the modern-day Dogon village is visible in the foreground |
Photo Source: Collected from Internet
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