Blogs from Saint-Louis, Saint-Louis Region, Senegal, Africa

E' ormai sempre piu' comune da parte dei viaggiatori via terra lungo la costa occidentale dell'Africa, cercare di evitare la famigerata frontiera tra Mauritania e Senegal posta nella citta' di Rosso: qui i cordiali doganieri mauritani, che ti hanno accolto col sorriso e a braccia aperte entrando dal Marocco, si trasformano in veri e propri vampiri assetati di sangue, in questo caso dei vostri soldi; faranno di tutto per estorcervi le ultime Ouguiya rimaste nel vostro portafogli inventandosi ogni piu' ridicola scusa. Caldo, traffico e confusione non fanno che aumentare il disagio ed il tempo necessario per superare quelst'ultimo ostacolo prima di poter uscire finalmente dal paese. La soluzione? Usare il valico alternativo di Diama. Si tratta di un piccolo villaggio sperduto in mezzo alle paludi non raggiungibile direttamente dalla capitale Nouakchott, e qui sorge dunque ... read more

Balconies en masse We might as well beging by admitting that we cheat a little bit this time. Some of the text, which isn't much in the first place, we have simply copied from a couple of blogs we wrote a few years ago. But we spend so much time writing all the other blog entries that we think that once in a while we can allow ourselves to put together one entry where we don't have to write quite as much as we normally do. Also, when we started this blog in 2006 the main purpose was to make it possible for us to upload photos and make them available to our friends and relatives. It was publishing the photos that was the main purpose, not actually writing the text which accompanies the pictures. We ... read more

Last year in Senegal I decided to leave the safe bustling compound of my family and being an independent (budget) adventurer, chose to travel by public (shared) taxi from the depot in downtown Dakar to St Louis in the north, 6 hours away by car; there(theoretically ) I would once again meet up with my sister and The Truck. There are many nuances to this mode of travel that are revealed only as the journey unfolds. First of all one has to wait until the taxi is full before leaving the depot...this can take quite a while as there are not exactly hoards of people making this journey on a random weekday morning. The next problem is that if you want a window rather than a middle seat where you run the risk of being sandwiched ... read more

We are now in the very north of Senegal in Saint Louis, an island town in the middle of the broad Senegal river. There is just one bridge in from the mainland and we immediately realised how small the island is, just over a mile long and quarter of a mile wide. From this little place, France ruled Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and the Ivory Coast – more than five-times the size of France. Today, it is a sleepy and dusty town of old colonial buildings in various states of disrepair. Although sand now covers the streets, it is easy to picture this as a thriving city, controlling the river from the grand buildings. Old warehouses face the main street with impressive façades and balconies. At their rear are the quays where huge cranes wait ready to ... read more

Hello my wonderful and loyal readers!! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write another blog- but it's been a long 3 weeks here in Senegal. I arrived late December, in the evening. When the plane stopped, and the pilot came over the PA system saying 'the traffic controllers have stopped us in the middle of no where, and I have no idea why. You should be met by a bus when they can find us', it was confirmed in my mind: I am back in Africa. Once we were on and off the bus, I entered the arrival hall- not so different to that in Uganda. It was there that I realised no one here speaks english. Like, no one. Here it is either french or a traditional language. Two women in their ... read more