The People Who Are Not There

Ali stops the land rover and stares up the hill with a smile on his face. "We are here" he says. I look all around and see nothing but the brown hills and towering rock faces that define the Bandiagara Escarpment of Southern Mali. Focusing my gaze on the hillside I begin to discern geometric shapes and patterns as the perfectly camouflaged city of 6,000 people slowly reveals itself on a precipitous slope.