The cliff dwellings located at the Bandiagara Escarpment belong to the Dogon people, an indigenous ethnic group from the Central Plateau region of Mali. The Dogon people pushed out another ethnic group known as Tellem and moved to the slopes of the cliff of Bandiagara in the 14th century.
Tellem people carved their houses into the cliffs for various reasons. Firstly, they wanted to use the defensive qualities of the cliffs against invasions and fights. They wanted to bury their dead high up as well because of the flash floods in the area. Also, they wanted to have easy access to water as the Niger River is nearby.
The dwellings blend remarkably with the cliffside and go almost unnoticed, providing security during turmoils for the dwellers. There are thirty Dogon villages across the escarpment, and they show differences in terms of architectural style. Some dwellings are carved into the cliffs, while others have thatched roofs protruding from sand and rock, a similar trait in African architecture.
The cliff stretches over 150 kilometers. The landscape has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1989. Because of the security risk within the area, it is often inadvisable to travel there but the site remains an important and historical landscape.
