Blogs from Saint-Louis Region, Senegal, Africa - page 5

Nouakchott-St LouisTom Griffith At all of the border crossings I have made, whether in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, or Asia, I have never once been asked for a bribe. Then I arrived in West Africa, and things changed. Leaving Mauritania via the depressingly awful border town of Rosso, I had our passports snatched from my hand by a policeman, who then wandered around with them for 20 minutes while Suze and I followed him. Eventually, a bigwig in an office signed them, and then they were taken away to be stamped. The policeman returned, handed Suze's back, but then kept mine and asked me to hand over some money. I smiled and pretended I didn't understand him. He then marched me over to his supervisor, who swung open the gate leading back into Mauritania ... read more

I'm still in St-Louis, relaxing. Yesterday I took a day trip to the National Park for birds at Djoudj. It is one of the most important bird sanctuaries in the world. Over 3 million birds migrating south from Europe stop at the Parc National des oiseaux du Djoudj. I organised a tour with a guide who works for the National Park. His English was non existent, but he spoke slowly and repeated things when I didn't understand. As a result I followed everything he was saying in French. The park was well worth a visit, if not cheap. I had to get up early to visit, as I met my guide at 8am. So, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the other travellers. They didn't go to the park as it was too ... read more