Hiking in Southeast Senegal, Village to Village

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This, the first blog of my Philippines trip is about Africa, Senegal...

The connection is just 'travel', and also, photos. I did many cool things in Senegal last winter, but never blogged about them. No laptop, unfamiliar keyboards, poor internet connections, other things to do... so here and now, with a few hours in the Seoul, South Korea airport, seems like a good time.

In Sierra Leone, 25 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer, we would think nothing of setting off across the countryside to a village we'd never been to. For work or just for a hike, didn't matter, it was safe, we were always treated well and we knew we'd find our way back somehow. So I wanted to do a cross country hike in Senegal, stopping in villages and farms along the way. It didn't take long in Kedougou to realize I lacked the language skills and connection to the land and people to do it on my own. So I hired Samba to take me on a two day loop. We stayed an overnight with his relatives in a tiny village. Over two days we hiked through woodland savanna, over hills covered with woodland and along ridges, through villages and farms. Samba knew virtually everyone we met. Folks were curious about me and I did my best to smile and greet people. Samba's English was rudimentary and my French long forgotten, but we managed.

By day we hiked the trails folks use to get from village to village. Passing through small farms, occasionally with a family working, threshing or stacking millet mostly. Depending on the land/farm Samba pointed out the remnants of the harvest: cotton, millet, corn, peanuts and even some rice.

We stared in Ibel and hiked up through Biwol through and spent the night in a small village with Samba's relatives. Next day we walked through Eties to Namel‏. He'd probably be happy to repeat the hike: Samba Cire Diallo in Ibel. With a guide I think you could walk for weeks in southeastern Senegal and have a great time.

Very sorry to not have peoples names. Maybe Samba can id folks for me and I'll add them later.

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