What I have done...

My lack of French, the buses, bush taxis and little money has made this my toughest and most challenging trip so far. But I would do it again just for the Dogon Country alone - another post on that.

I took a bus from Accra to Ougadougou which was meant to take 26 hr bus but took 30 hrs because of engine problems. I was informed at the border that crossing the border had rendered my Ghana visa extension void and i couldn't get back in. I met a Peace Corp guy from Niger who I shared a room with for the first night while I worked the french at the back of the Lonely Planet to get another Ghana visa.

While my visa was being processed I caught a bush taxi to Po (6 hrs). Slept the night in Po then came back to Ouga (another 6 hrs, I sat next to a cow and he was snoring - honest!). Picked up my visa and jumped on the bus to Ouahigouya.

From Ouga I got a bush taxi almost immediately to Koro. The border crossing was surreal. Just the 15 people in our bush taxi, a small police station and the Malian Flag were the only things apart from red sand and baobab trees as far as the eye could see. I shared a room in Koro with a girl from Perth I met on the bush taxi. Next day we caught another bush taxi headed to Mopti. At a police checkpoint, a guy came up to us and convinced us to get off at Bankass and wait at his hotel and he'd organise a Dogon guide for us. He spoke engligh, had an official guide permit and looked like a nice guy - so we did.

In Bankass we met two english med students who had been volunteering at a hospital in Ghana for 3 months. So the 4 of us took an english speaking Dogon guide (Djibril - an abolute legend) and did a 4 day trek of the Dogon Country. I need multiple posts to do justice - the stupefying villages on the cliff faces, the views which instilled almost a spiritual calm, the people who surpass even the Ghanaians in the politeness and generosity. After the trek all four of us took a bush taxi (i had to sit on a small gas cylinder - my arse still hurts from it) to Sevare and then a big bus to Djenne for the Monday Market and that's where I am now struggling to use a french keyboard.