Djenné is one of the oldest towns in West Africa, inhabited since 250 BC. It was an important centre of the trans-Saharan gold trade and the spread of Islam. The Grand Mosque, built in 1906, is the largest mud brick building in the world, a truly unique and extraordinary site. The facade has to be restored every year after the rainy season by thousands of volunteers. Elsewhere the town is a maze of narrow alleyways and traditional mud-brick houses, seemingly little changed in centuries, ripe for wandering and exploration. The Monday market is one of the most lively in West Africa, these days food, spices, fabrics and pottery are for sale rather than the gold, ivory and slaves of days gone by.
UNESCO World Heritage Site 
Location:
Mali
Travel to Djenné
