The Manding Mountains are a

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

area in

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

, stretching between its western border with Guinea to an area 50km west of

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

, Mali's capital. They reach above sea level.

Kangaba Kangaba is a town, commune, and seat of the Kangaba Cercle in the Koulikoro Region of south-western Mali. Kangaba is believed to have been founded in 1050 by Mandinka tribesmen and was a vassal state of the Ghana Empire. Once known as Kaba, the ...

, the spiritual home of the

Mandinka people The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the List of ethn ...

, is located at the foot of the mountains. The range is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, sculpted into dramatic

buttes In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French word , meaning 'k ...

and cliffs by erosion. Some of these formations have been named by locals, such as the Butte of the Stubborn Woman, said to be a woman who refused to search any more for her lost husband and was punished by being turned to stone.

References

{{coord missing, Mali Mountains of Mali