Why this ride
On the way it passes Bédik Bandafassi, Bassari Country: Bassari and back through Bédik Bandafassi.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Peul Dindéfello and Bassari Country: Bassari
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 249 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 55
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Peul Dindéfello
Dindéfello is where the Sahel finally gives up and the Fouta Djallon begins. The village sits in southeastern Senegal, tucked against the border with Guinea, and the plateau behind it drops away in a red cliff that feeds a waterfall of about a hundred metres. After the rains the fall is a proper white rope hanging off the rock. In the dry season it thins to a veil, but the pool beneath is still deep enough for a cool plunge and the walk through the gorge in the shade is worth the heat.
Read the complete Peul Dindéfello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peul Dindéfello is where the day begins. Next is Bédik Bandafassi.
2. Bédik Bandafassi
In the hills of south-eastern Senegal, near the border with Guinea, the Bedik people live in villages perched on rocky hilltops, reached by steep paths through the bush. Their round huts with tall conical thatched roofs, clustered closely together, and their traditions of masks, initiation and seasonal festivals have survived because of their isolation. The Bedik country around Bandafassi is part of the Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes, listed by UNESCO in 2012, along with the lands of their Bassari and Fula neighbours.
Read the complete Bédik Bandafassi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bédik Bandafassi comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bassari Country: Bassari.
3. Bassari Country: Bassari
Where south-eastern Senegal meets Guinea, the flat savannah gives way to the first hills of the Fouta Djallon, and in these hills live the Bassari, a people who have kept their own beliefs, language and rituals despite centuries of pressure from surrounding powers. Villages of round huts with conical thatched roofs sit on hillsides among terraced fields of fonio, millet and peanuts, and the year is punctuated by initiation ceremonies in which masked figures in costumes of leaves and fibres come out of the sacred forest.
Read the complete Bassari Country: Bassari write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach Bassari Country: Bassari. Next is back through Bédik Bandafassi.
4. back through Bédik Bandafassi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bédik Bandafassi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bédik Bandafassi, late in the day. Next is Peul Dindéfello.
5. Peul Dindéfello
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Peul Dindéfello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Peul Dindéfello. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Peul Dindéfello to Bédik Bandafassi
Peul Dindéfello → Bédik Bandafassi is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bédik Bandafassi to Bassari Country: Bassari
Bédik Bandafassi → Bassari Country: Bassari is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bassari Country: Bassari to back through Bédik Bandafassi
Bassari Country: Bassari → back through Bédik Bandafassi is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bédik Bandafassi to Peul Dindéfello
back through Bédik Bandafassi → Peul Dindéfello is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.