The site has been settled forat least 2,000 years.
Since the last five hundred years it has been home to the ethnic group known as Dogon.
Men, women and children alike were captured and thrown into the slave trade.
Cliff dwellings in the Bandiagara escarpment.
The Tellem built dwellings around the base of the escarpment and carved burial caves high up on the cliff-face.
The seemingly impossible-to-access location of these dwellings made the Dogons believe that the Tellem people could fly.
It is thought that the Tellem people either assimilated into the Dogon culture or migrated to nearby Burkina Faso.
Some Tellem buildings, most notably the granaries, are still used by the Dogon.
Photo credit:DemarK/Shutterstock
The first Dogon settlement was established in the extreme southwest of the escarpment.
The Bandiagara Escarpment and the Dogon culture today draws a large number of tourists to Mali each year.
Photo credit:Marco Dormino/United Nations Photo
Restoration of the Tellem granaries in Bandiagara Escarpment.
Photo credit: Fondation Dogon Education
Dogon village of Ireli in Mali.
Photo credit:Torsten Pursche/Shutterstock
