Blogs from Senegal, Africa

From the serenity of St Louis, the old capital, to the noise and madness of Dakar, the new capital. A day's drive that takes us from the dust of horse drawn carts to the diesel fumes of 18 wheel lorries. Our guest house is in Dakar's northern outskirts, on the Atlantic coast. From the roof terrace we can see the waves crashing onto yet another long beach. It is a busy beach used by youngsters, playing football; horses pulling carts, who use the beach as a road; and us and a few locals, walking. And there are herds of goats, some untethered horses and numerous scavenging kites and vultures. Dakar is a noisy, polluted African city with some interesting markets and an impressive art deco cathedral. On the edge of the city is the most westerly ... read more

Getting from the Gambia to Senegal was a little tortuous. Before dawn, a taxi took us to the middle of a dark Banjul market. From here, we walked down an alley to the ferry. In the waiting area, hawkers were offering water, snacks and ladies underwear. Useful if you forgot your bra and pants, I guess. We boarded in the dark and watched the dawn come up over the river Gambia. Banjul slipped away and Barra slowly appeared in the distance. It was cold on the 45 minute crossing – we were in fleeces for the first time on the trip. Once in Barra, we bargained with the next taxi driver and half an hour later we were at the border, where we seemed to be the only people crossing. We walked straight in to the ... read more

We set out across no-man’s land with certain sense trepidation. The three kilometre stretch of unpaved road between the two respective countries customs posts was heavily mined during the 70s as part of the on going conflict over the Western Sahara. The twisted remains of various shattered vehicles offered a sharp reminder as to what happens if you strayed off the marked path. In the distance we saw the cluster of windswept buildings that represented the Mauritanian border. As expected the place was chaos, money changers, taxi drivers, truckers and border police were all vying for business. The Mauritanian Gendarmerie had the swagger and look of uniformed thugs and you could see their eyes light up when they saw our vehicle. We had back on the Moroccan border decided to employ the services of a ‘helper’ ... read more

I was in Dakar for 10 days in March 2011 on a business trip. I did not have so much timeto see around but the office that i worked was in the centre of the capital city of Senegal. The weather was very fine, warm enough for us to wear sleeveless shirts. Dakar is an international city full of tourists around the world. But i guess the most difficult thing in the city is find an open restaurant during the working hours as people there prefer to rest till the evening because of the hot weather. we stayed in a hotel which was very near to the sea.We had the chance to walk by the see for 2 evenings. One night we went to a cafe just nearby the see where we had hot herbal tea ... read more

While it is with moderate lightness in Senegal that i can throw around salaam aleikums, and with tempered righteousness that I can accept being banned from the inside of most mosques - it is with absolute sincerity that I nodded in accordance with the wish of many of my friends upon leaving: Please. Pray for Senegal. And every non-believer cell of me is… As like never before in Senegal, there is "political unrest" over what most consider to be the illegal candidacy of the current president (Wade) for the next presidential office term. As it is Wade himself who had made an amendment to the constitution capping a president's reign two terms - yet he now is running for a third. Will the people hold their president to his own decision and to their own constitution? ... read more