The story

The Dogon are skillful farmers who a long time ago adapted to living in the crags, transformed into a form of architecture, and they remained relatively isolated from the rest of the country until the 20th century. Over the course of five centuries, this has enabled them to develop a wholly original culture.

They are animists, with a rigid social and religious organisation, living suspended between earth and sky, expressing themselves through ritual dances and ceremonies. Their ancestors left paintings and pictograms on the walls of the Bandiagara caves, and these have only recently been deciphered, as they were under the custody of the Hogon, the high priest, guardian of knowledge.