Bandafassi

Bandafassi is a rural town in southeastern Senegal's Kédougou Region, about 20 km west of Kédougou town and close to the borders with Mali and Guinea. It is the administrative centre of the Bedik–Bandafassi area, one of three geographical zones (alongside the Bassari–Salémata and Fula–Dindéfello areas) that make up the "Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes" UNESCO World Heritage site, inscribed in 2012. The Bedik people, who settled the area between the 11th and 19th centuries, built their villages as clusters of circular thatched huts perched defensively on hilltops overlooking the surrounding plains; the Bedik–Bandafassi zone encompasses nine such traditional villages along with scattered hamlets and farmland. Their culture retains distinctive agro-pastoral, ritual, and spiritual traditions tied closely to this landscape.

By Road

Bandafassi is reached by road from Kédougou town, about 20 km to the east.

Bandafassi itself is walkable; visiting the outlying Bedik hilltop villages generally requires a vehicle or guided trek.

• The Bedik hilltop villages of the Bandafassi area, part of the UNESCO-listed Bassari Country cultural landscape — clusters of traditional circular thatched huts built for defensible vantage over the surrounding plains.

• Kédougou — the regional capital, about 20 km east.
• Dindéfello — the Fula zone of the Bassari Country UNESCO site, home to Dindefelo Falls.