Senegal

My Senegal travel summary:

Visited: December 2008

Length: 10 days

Capital city: Dakar

Population: 12 million (2008)

Senegal travel blog reading time: 9 minutes

• Celebrating Tabaski in the worn yet beautiful architecture of Saint Louis.
• Learning that the sea is used more as a dumping place for garbage than for swimming.
• Cosmopolitan capital Dakar with Ile Gorée – the largest slave-trading center in West Africa.
• Tasting palm wine in the region of Casamance.
• Deep thoughts by a local friend: “You, white people, need holidays. We, black people, need money!”

Senegal is the most developed country in West Africa, considered the region’s model of democracy, boasting a history of stable government and civilian rule.

One of the best places in the world to catch fish, where baobab tree is a national symbol and an integral part of the country’s culture.

Senegal played a major role in the slave trade along the African coast. During colonial times, several European nations competed for it.

Today, Gambia splits Senegal in two, while Dakar serves as a key transport hub and gateway to Africa.

I visited Senegal as a part of my three-month trip to West Africa in 2008-09, together with Morocco, Mauritania, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

Saint Louis, in northern Senegal, was the first French settlement in West Africa and a former capital. The first stop on my Senegal travel adventure after crossing from Mauritania represents all architectural brilliance of French colonizers. Old buildings from past centuries show the effects of time, along with a rusty Eiffel Bridge. Rubbish, bad smells, tired locals, and tourists searching for past glory surround the area.

Historic center of Saint Louis extends on the island, within the estuary of Senegal River, linked with the land by metallic bridge from the end of 19^th century.

Founded in 1659, Saint Louis was named in honor of the king of France, Luis XIV. Magnificent mansions and colonial buildings with wooden balconies amazed travelers after long desert journeys or days at sea.

Today, most of the buildings are in decadent conditions. Besides the bridge, important places in the city include a Catholic church, the Grand Mosque, Faidherbe Square, the post office, and the tourist information building.

Overall, Saint Louis was a welcome change from the monotonous desert sands of Mauritania. My visit to Saint Louis coincided perfectly with the Tabaski holiday, as I was there at just the right time.

Tabaski, an Islamic national holiday, honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God’s command. To mark this event, people usually sacrifice a sheep in a ritual ceremony. The family that offers the sacrifice eats one third of the meat and gives the rest to the poor and needy. People also exchange sweets and gifts and visit extended family.

The two-day Tabaski celebration is an important feast that people prepare for all year. They wear new clothes and sacrifice one or two sheep. The more money people have, the more sheep they can sacrifice.

I felt terrified by the street slaughter, which seemed strangely intense. People cut the sheep’s necks in sandy alleys out of respect for tradition and nature.

Leftover animal remains were taken to a nearby river or sea. After the slaughter, the scene looked messy, with strong smells and blood, but people didn’t seem disturbed.

“Why garbage is not thrown in garbage bins? Why some people urinate or defecate in the street?” I asked my new local friend Patrick.

“It is part of African culture,” he politely explained me.

When the celebration was over and life returned to normal, I had a chance to visit the fish market and informal textile markets on the main streets of the city. With so many fishing pirogues, I expected a rich supply of diverse seafood.

I might have arrived late. The place looked more like a dump than a real fish market on a rich coastal area. Boys cleaned fish, while women cooked food on greased grills and old reused pots. I felt that I would turn sick if tasting the unappealing meals.

My companion and I decided to buy fresh sea bream and bake it in the hostel kitchen oven. Our lunch turned out to be much more delicious than neglected leftovers on sale at the fish market.

I am used to wandering around markets, and visiting them is one of my favorite things to do. The activity on Saint Louis streets before Tabaski was one of the liveliest I have ever seen.

Stalls stand side by side, with large crowds moving slowly through the market. Women wear colorful traditional clothes and scarves, and many carry babies wrapped on their backs. The whole scene feels busy but calm, with a steady rhythm of movement.

Plastic bags, leftover food and garbage cover the grounds. In between, there is loud shouting, arguing, and calling.

At first, I was scared and just held tight my camera hoping that no one would steal it out of my hands. Soon I relaxed, took it out and started taking pictures of what was happening around me. Many people laughed at me and apologized for the chaos. They also knew foreign visitors were amazed by the experience. It was definitely the highlight of my visit.

Dakar is chaotic, colorful, cosmopolitan, and colonial, with over two million people along the Cap-Vert peninsula on the Atlantic coast. Dakar shows its importance with Africa’s largest seaport and the headquarters of the Central Bank of West African States. For African standards, it is a very pleasant place to visit and live, although it lacks attractive landmarks and exciting things to do.

Dakar is one of the most westernized cities in West Africa, with strong modern influences and infrastructure.

It is a regional air hub with cheap flights home or to nearby countries. I easily found good restaurants, art, and everything I needed at local markets around the city.

At night, Dakar can still be dangerous. I preferred staying in a hotel that actually had a brothel on the ground floor and cheap rooms upstairs.

The central point is Place de l’Independence, the business and administrative center with airline offices and bank headquarters. The Medina is the true heart of Dakar and one of its oldest and most populated areas. It has kept its original African character, with the Grand Mosque’s minaret rising above it. Small shops and markets make the district lively. Houses are built around inner courtyards, often centered on a baobab or ceiba tree.

Other interesting places to visit include the busy Avenue Pompidou and the Corniche. The Corniche runs along the sea, where craft shops stand near monuments. Futuristic Third Millennium Door, constructed in 2001 symbolizes the entering of African continent to the new millennium.

Île Gorée is the top sightseeing attraction to visit in Dakar.

Île Gorée lies two kilometers off Dakar’s south coast and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a major slave-trading center from the 15^th to 19^th centuries.

These days it’s a sanctuary of calm, with a population of around 1,500 people living in pastel-colored houses on tranquil cobbled streets.

I enjoyed fantastic views of the island itself and Dakar downtown from the castle, which served as a WWII outpost. House of Slave, Door of no return, a museum and a slave house stand as a harrowing reminder of the brutality, cruelty, and scale of the transatlantic slave trade.

As a major slave-trading center, changed hands between Portugal, the Dutch, England, and France from the 13^th to 20^th century before becoming part of Senegal in 1960.

My next stop on my Senegal travel adventure was in the south, where I visited the small village of Joal-Fadiouth.

After crossing a 400-meter wooden bridge to the island, I explored a church and a mosque. Only pedestrians can move around, and vehicles are not allowed. Joal-Fadiouth is located on an island completely covered with shells. Even the cemetery boasts simple shell tombs instead of expensive marble slabs.

I noticed peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims. Older men played board games and invited me to join and talk.

It may sound funny, but it reminded me of a standardized system under socialism – everything looked the same, with no exceptions. I started thinking about what could unite such a diverse continent as Africa. With many religions, languages, and cultures, one shared feature could be poverty.

In general, Senegalese people seem quite happy to me, including a young boy named Carlos that I met in Toubakouta. After finishing his studies in Dakar, he returned to his village, where he lives simple life in a basic house.

He invited me to ride bicycles along nearby paths to observe monkeys and birds. We communicated in Spanish because my French was weak at the time and his English was limited.

In the evening, we visited the only person in the village who owned a satellite dish and a TV. Unfortunately, we could not watch the broadcast of El Clásico, the football match between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

No big deal for me—I didn’t travel that far to watch European football. Instead, we replaced the match with an interesting conversation and a simple board game. Much more fun and memorable!

At the end of a wonderful day in Toubakouta, a thoughtful remark from Carlos stayed in my mind:

“You, white people, need holidays. We, black people, don’t need holidays. We need money!”

After a week in The Gambia, I continued my Senegal travel to explore Casamance, the southernmost region.

A few years earlier, this area was very dangerous, with frequent attacks on locals and tourists. Recently, the situation has stabilized, and people have again started to appreciate Casamance as one of Senegal’s most beautiful regions.

I rented a bike to visit nearby villages. A local guide showed me their way of life and customs. The highlight of the activities was learning about palm wine production.

Middle-aged and older men climb about 15 meters up palm trees, secured only with a small belt around their waist. They collect sap in plastic bottles, then quickly descend and pour it into canisters originally used for motor oil.

Upon completing observation of the procedure, I was invited to join a collector for tasting. It would be rude to refuse an invitation from a local winemaker.

I closed my eyes, forgot about cleanliness standards, and enjoyed the sweet taste of young palm wine.

Fortunately, I suffered no stomach problems and ended my visit to Senegal feeling slightly dizzy.

Despite warnings about danger in Dakar and persistent locals, my experience during Senegal travel adventure was mostly the opposite. There were only a few exceptions.

Senegalese men are pleasant and talkative while women are among the most beautiful in Africa. When women wear traditional attire, their age becomes less noticeable and their presence stands out. I find their beauty striking, similar to that of women in Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Colombia.

Ignoring garbage, crowds, and occasional hassle, Senegal can feel like a paradise in some respects. Polygamy is practiced, and a hardworking man can often afford more than one wife and raise a large family with many children.

As a visitor in Senegal, I had to be careful with prices and often negotiated hard to get a fair deal.

There is a big difference between modern Dakar and the rural, remote areas of Senegal. The country has strong potential for growth if it keeps internal conflicts under control and limits corruption.