Blogs from Cape Verde Peninsula, Senegal, Africa

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Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar March 2nd 2021

http://www.heygo.com 2nd March - Gorée Island: UNESCO World Heritage Site - Dakar, Senegal The Island of Gorée, lying 3.5 KM off the coast of Dakar, was one of the first places in Africa Europeans occupied. It is well known as the former center of the European slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries, and is now a pilgrimage destination for the African diaspora around the world. History tells the story that the island was a launching point to the "New World" for captured slaves from all over Africa. Gorée continued to be an important place post-slavery as a space for exchange between The West and Africa. Today it stands as a powerful symbol of history, reconciliation, forgiveness, and love. Alune was our guide and it was very moving listening how the house of slaves, now ... read more

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar January 25th 2020

Visite du Monument de la renaissance africaine, de son musée et de son belvédère en compagnie de deux jeunes volontaires ontariens qui habitent avec moi à la villa Hannah et Elphase. Nous avons terminé la soirée à l'excellent restaurant Le Phare.... read more
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Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar January 21st 2020

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Gorée Island December 7th 2018

I came across a new word recently; “bleisure”. It is the ugly conflation of the words business and leisure. To reveal the true ghastliness it should probably be pronounced in a Californian accent and should rhyme with seizure. It’s meaning is the combination of a leisure trip and a business trip. I’ve often tacked on some leisure time to various business visits. More often than not this was due to my previous employers being too mean to fly me back on an expensive Friday night flights. Often marooned in various places e.g. Houston (massively underrated) or Jakarta (un-rateable) for an extra day or so. They’ve proved to be impromptu bonding sessions with colleagues that no amount of expensive team building nonsense would ever substitute. More often there is some down time within the schedule for a ... read more
The House of Slaves
Door of No Return

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Gorée Island March 4th 2018

28 février De retour à Dakar, j'organise mon départ pour aller, cette fois, passer deux nuits sur l'île de Gorée, baignant dans l'océan tout au sud de la ville. (l'île de N'Gor était, elle, située tout au nord). C'est Abdoulaye le taximan qui me déposera au port de Dakar. De là, un traversier plein à fendre m'amènera sur Gorée, l'incontournable lieu touristique du Sénégal. La majeure partie des visiteurs s'y rendent pour la journée seulement, pour ensuite retourner à Dakar le soir venu. Pour ma part, je prévois y passer deux nuits, question de palper l'ambiance de l'île après le départ du dernier traversier. Sans surprise, je pose pied sur Gorée accompagné d'une vague de vacanciers majoritairement sénégalais ou français. De curieux voyageurs blancs habillés d'un beige safari ou vêtus de toges à l'africaines brillent dans ... read more
Gorée
Lessive
Partie de Foot

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar March 3rd 2018

26 février Martine a quitté Dakar pour se rendre au Kenya hier (le travail oblige). C'est donc aujourd'hui que j'organise ma première aventure en autonomie au Sénégal. Mon plan est d'aller dormir sur l'île de N'Gor, sur l'océan, tout au nord de la ville. L'endroit est supposément bien prisé des surfeurs, avec ses immenses vagues qui déferlent entre l'île et le quartier des Almadies sur le continent. Je prend donc place dans un taxi jaune, noir et déglingué qui me conduira à la plage de N'Gor d'où partent les pirogues pour rejoindre l'île. Pour m'y rendre, le chauffeur inconnu me demande 3000 francs CFA (+ ou - 7.50$) alors que je lui en offre 2000 (+ ou - 5.00$). On s'entendra à mi-chemin donc, au prix de 2500 francs CFA (+ ou - 6.25$). Tout se ... read more
Horizon
N'Gor
Île N'Gor

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Pink Lake March 1st 2018

23 février Il est 9h00AM et Abdoulaye, enjoué, m'attend à la sortie de la demeure de chez Martine. La Réglisse m'ouvre la porte grinçante de son taxi jaune et noir avec son sourire incandescent. "Ça va? Bien dormi? Ça va?" "Ça va merci" C'est qu'Abdoulaye va me faire le grand tour de Dakar aujourd'hui. Le ciel est lisse et le grand soleil d'Afrique brille magnifiquement sur le Sénégal. Aucune pluie n'est prévue pour au moins les 28 prochains jours. Il fait parfaitement beau. Jamais étouffante, jamais suffocante, la saison se présente ici aussi splendide qu'une suite de journées les plus belles et chaudes au Québec. Je prend place dans la voiture. "Sinon ça va?" qu'Abdoulaye me redemande. "Ça va, ça va" que je lui répond encore une fois alors qu'on s'éloigne du quartier des Almadies sous ... read more
Silhouette
Abdoulaye à la mosquée
Dakar

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar January 3rd 2018

A pink lake, which is not very pink, a colonial city, which lacks colonial buildings, and an old town, which is not so old Here comes the second blog entry from our Christmas/New Year vacation in the Gambia and Senegal. Since we spent much more time in Senegal than in the Gambia we also have more to write about from there. We will divide the Senegal part of the trip into four separate blog entries. This one will focus on three places: Lake Retba, Dakar and Saint-Louis. Lake Retba Lake Retba is a lake just north of Dakar which is a popular place to visit for people who travel in Senegal. There is a beach near the hotels/resorts and there are several activities you can do but the main attraction is the lake itself. Lake Retba ... read more
Lake Retba
"Pink Lake" sounds better than "Maroon Lake"
Harvesting salt, scooping it up from the bottom

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar August 22nd 2017

Dear All Greetings once more from Senegal! I have made it full-circle on my trip, and am currently writing this one again from Dakar, from whence my journey began, and funnily enough, the exact same room of the Hotel Oceanic (Room 206) where I began this journey five weeks ago today. It feels a long time, I have come a long way since I last wrote, and if I’m honest, I’m really quite tired now…! This has been a wonderful journey, a really enjoyable one, full of really amazing adventures and places, though I will save my post-trip analysis for when I write my final update once touched down back in the UK and safely returned to my beautiful little Victorian terraced home again. I believe it has been a bit longer since I last updated ... read more
Pelican
Sunset over Saint-Louis
Me

Africa » Senegal » Cape Verde Peninsula » Dakar July 20th 2017

Dear All Greetings from Dakar, capital of Senegal, and home to around 3 million of Senegal’s population of around 14 million. It also happens to sit on the westernmost point of Africa, on a small triangular-shaped peninsular which juts out from the African mainland into the Atlantic Ocean. It is a beautifully sited city, and this was evident from the stunning views seen from the aeroplane as we came into land on Tuesday evening – a city lit up by countless street lights, surrounded by an ocean of darkness all around. A beautiful arrival into my first port-of-call on my West African journey this year. My prediction in my last blog entry was indeed correct – whilst Dakar is only a 4.5 hour flight from Europe, it could not be more different from comparative urban European ... read more
Ile de Goree
Dakar
Eagle(?) over Dakar




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