Djenne in Mali

Djenne is located on the bank of the rivers Bani and Niger. It is about 8-hour drive from Bamako. For most, it is easier to get to Djenne from the travel hub of Mopti, located slightly north of here. Most travelers visiting Djenne will enter the old town by taking a ferry. The ferry, an experience, is manned by a bunch of interesting and playful staff. For example, think of a Rasta man wearing a bicycle helmet and calling himself ‘’ Mama Africa’’. Private transportation will be necessary, and the ferry can accommodate small cars.

The history of Djenne is closely linked with that of Timbuktu. Between the 15th and 17th centuries much of the trans-Saharan trade in goods such as salt, gold and slaves that moved in and out of Timbuktu passed through Djenné. Both towns became centres of Islamic scholarship. Djenné’s prosperity depended on this trade and when the Portuguese established trading posts on the African coast, the importance of the trans-Saharan trade and thus of Djenné declined. Djenné became a market centre and an important link in the trans-Saharan gold trade. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was one of the centres for the propagation of Islam.

The town is famous for its distinctive adobe architecture, most notably the Great Mosque which was built in 1907 on the site of an earlier mosque. To the south of the town is Djenné-Djeno, the site of one of the oldest known towns in sub-Saharan Africa.

The building is closed to non-Muslims but you can admire the exterior facade of the Grand Mosque and its market which is just outside. The wall of the enclosure is decorated with many pieces of carved wood and arranged perpendicularly, which gives it this particular volume. They have a role of scaffolding and their function is to evacuate rainwater to avoid damaging the raw earth.

The Djenne Mosque is often described as being the most prestigious monument in West Africa.