The Dogon people live in Mali, West Africa in an area composed of plains, sandstone cliffs up to 600 meters tall, and plateaus running parallel to the Niger River. Dogon families live in compounds in villages along the Bandiagara escarpment, sleeping on their rooftops during the hot season. They traditionally farmed millet and the blacksmiths now work with scrap metal, while masks and male social centers called "Houses of Words" are also part of Dogon culture.

1. The Dogon are an ethnic group located mainly in the administrative districts of Bandiagara and Douentza in Mali, West Africa.

3. This area is composed of three distinct topographical regions: the plain, the cliffs, and the plateau.

4. These sandstone cliffs run from southwest to northeast, roughly parallel to the Niger River, and attain heights up to 600 meters (2000 feet).

5. A Dogon family compound in the village of Pegue is seen from the top of the Bandiagara escarpment. During the hot season, the Dogon sleep on the roofs of their earthen homes.

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9. Millet Harvest - Dogon women pound millet in the village

10. Nowadays, the Dogon blacksmiths forge mainly scrap metal recuperated from old railway lines or car wrecks.

11. They sunk a mine shaft, made charcoal, and built a furnace with earth and lumps of slag

12. Kananga masks contain geometric patterns. These masks represent the first human beings.

13. A 'Togu Na' - 'House of Words' - stands in every Dogon village and marks the male social center

14. Amaguime Dolu, a diviner in the village of Bongo, performs a ritual.