Hotel Djenne Djenno

Explore the ancient West-African textile tradition Bogolan at Hotel Djenne Djenno:

Fully inclusive residential courses offering tuition by local artisans in the MaliMali studio, adjoining the hotel.
(www.malimali.org) Bogolan means ‘mud painting’, and that is exactly what it is: river mud is used to paint cotton fabric which has been dyed with local vegetable dyes.
The courses are open to all ages, and need no previous textile printing or dyeing experience.
Bogolan is very easy and wonderful textiles can be created in a week’s residential course.

Itinerary for one week’s bogolan course:

1 Day.
Afternoon arrival at Hotel Djenne Djenno. Welcome drinks in the Sunset bar overlooking the great mosque in the distance, followed by a short introductory talk and slide show about bogolan. Dinner under the stars.

Day2.
Exploring Djenne in the morning. Return to the hotel for a visit to the bogolan studio and lunch. In the afternoon we start dyeing the textiles, which means pounding the dried leaves of a certain tree to make the colour yellow and the boiling of the bark of another tree to make a red dye. Everyone dyes their own piece of cloth, in preparation for the mud painting.

3rd day.
Morning visit with horse and carriage to the village of Diabolo, where we will study traditional bogolans. Gourmet picnic lunch in the shade of a great tree on the way back to Djenne.
In the afternoon we start painting the fabric with the help of teachers who show how to paint traditional African styles, or exploring our own patterns.

4th+5th days:
Work in studio continues, painting our fabrics, and then drying the mud in the sun.

6th day:
Morning: We take our fabrics to the river and wash everything, spreading it out to dry on the river bank.
Pm: Some fabric can start to be made into clothes in the studio by our tailor, using our simple patterns.

7th day:
Relaxing, while our fabrics are continuing to be made into shirts, dresses or cushion covers etc.
Evening gala dinner and exhibition with a little fashion show afterwards, to the sounds of live balafon drumming, showing the things we have made and the things that are available in the shop.

Price: 50 000FCFA (77 Euros) per person per day.
What the price includes:

• Accommodation on a twin or double room basis (12500 fcfa surcharge for single occupancy)
• Breakfast, three course lunch and dinner.
• All soft drinks.
• All tuition, material and making up of garments from fabrics made.
• Visits and guided tours of Djenne and surrounding villages, trip in horse drawn carriage and picnic.
• Live music and performance at least two evenings during the week.
• Use of hotel bicycles.

What the price does not include:

• Travel to and from Djenne.
• Alcoholic beverages
• Insurance

Minimum participants: 4, maximum 22.
Shorter courses also available, and courses for one or two can be arranged by special appointment.

Why not do one day’s trial? One day:10000Fcfa per person.
(tuition, materials and trip to the river in horsedrawn carriage to wash bogolan included in price, accommodation and meals excluded)
A bogolan course can be arranged in combination with a holiday exploring Mali. We can put you in touch with experienced local tour operators.

To book, please email res@hoteldjennedjenno.com