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Published: January 11th 2005
Ile de Goree
Statue - The Liberation of the SlavesI am now in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. I left Saint-Louis on Sunday morning.
When getting the taxi to the Gare for Dakar, I had to bargain, one taxi driver tried to charge 3 times the going rate. At the Station they asked the going rate for the journey but tried to charge me 500 francs for the rucksack. I refused, so instead of taking a collective taxi to Dakar I ended up in a mini bus. Thinking about it I was arguing over very small amounts of money - 500 francs is 50 pence sterling.
Having opted for the cheaper mini bus I then had to wait an hour for the bus to leave. They don't leave until they are full - and full means over full. The minibus would have been comfortable with 24 passengers on it, they packed 36 in!
The journey was fairly uneventful but took about 5 and a half hours. That meant I got into Dakar at about 6pm. I also noticed at the end of the trip someone taking down 3 live goats from the roof of the bus. They had tied the goats
legs together and tied them to the roof!
In Dakar I told the taxi to go to a budget hotel, as I didn't want to wander around Dakar with a backpack - the city has a reputation for street crime. But the budget hotel was full. So, I asked them for another hotel. They told me where it was, so I tried there - also full. At this stage I was a bit worried because it wasn't long before it would be dark.
I was though in the centre of the city near the Place de Independence. I could see a multi storey hotel - so I tried there. It was the Hotel Independence - definitely not a budget option. It's posted prices were 50000 for a single but they have charged me 35000 - that's 35 pounds. The place has a swimming pool.
Yesterday I didn't do that much - I just relaxed and got my bearings in the city.
This morning I set out for the Isle de Goree, which is a volcanic rock ten minutes ferry ride from Dakar. It is a world heritage site,
so has had some money spent on it. It was also for hundreds of years a place where Africans where held before being put on boats and spent abroad as slaves.
On the way to the ferry I bumped into Patrick and Nat just outside the hotel!
I spent the day on the Isle de Gore, visiting the slave house and the museum. At the end of the day I also visited the IFAN museum in Dakar. The number of masks and statues was more than I could take in.
In the internet cafe, writing this I also met Patrick again. The lads were staying in a budget hotel just around the corner. They are in one of the hotels that was full on Sunday evening.
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