Tobacco container with lid

The Dogon country has a typical Sahel climate, with two distinctive seasons - dry and rainy. The dry season lasts from November to June. The first months are characterised by a significant difference between day and night temperatures. Mornings, especially when the winds blow, are chilly, with temperatures dropping as low as 15°C. However, the rising sun warms the air, and the days are warm (25-28°C). Towards the end of the dry season, it becomes boiling, both during the day and at night. Temperatures during this period reaching up to 40-45°C. In May, violent winds appear, heralding the rainy season that lasts from June to October, with a small break in precipitation in the second half of August. During the rainy season, the heat and high humidity are particularly troublesome. The average annual rainfall is 200-500 mm. The area has a typical savannah vegetation cover appropriate to the prevailing climatic conditions. In the north, the vegetation is poor, dominated by shrubs and grasses, with baobabs (Adansonia digitata), which are very characteristic of the area. In the south, there are more trees, acacias (Acacia senegal, Acacia albida), balsam trees (Commpiphora), tamarisks (Tamaricaceae), néré (Parkia biglobosa, in Mande languages called sumbala), trees from bean family (Faidherbia albida), Egyptian hummingbirds (Balanites aegyptiaca) and sa (Lannea acida) widely used in medicine and cosmetics. There are also butter trees such as karite (Vitellaria paradoxa) and kapok (Ceiba pentandra), as well as palms: the so-called fan tree (Borassus aethiopicum) and dum (Hyphaene thebaica). The space exploited by the Dogon is relatively poor in vegetation, while in inaccessible areas, in rocky cliffs, richer vegetation can sometimes be found. Human activity (cutting down trees, expanding cultivation) unfortunately influences the increasing desertification of the Dogon country.

Ewa Prądzyńska