Advertisement
Published: April 9th 2010
Senegal - 7 Weeks
Cap Skiring After backpacking for 3 weeks in Mauritania and 4 weeks in Mali we arrived in Senegal in need of some relaxation. In fact we left Djenne in Mali intending to head directly to the beach but the journey really epitomized the difficulties of backpacking in this part of the world.
It took us a day to reach Bamako, then a day to reach Kayes, then a day to reach Tambacounda in Senegal then we had to wait a day to be able to catch the 9 hour taxi to Ziguinchor and then a painful 2 hour bus ride to Cap Skiring, a 5 day journey with lots of waiting and slow traveling typical Africa-style
In Cap Skiring we found a nice hotel suitable for a 3 week stay and spent the whole time eating cheap freshly caught fish and sun-bathing and walking along the beach. We also managed to have some really nice meals including a lobster dinner with Sole and wine for 12000 Cfa (20 Euro)
Pays Bassari The Bassari people are an African people living in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, although most of
the Bassari are concentrated on either side of the Senegal-Guinea border southwest of Kedougou.
We spent 6 days touring the Pays Bassari, including a day inside the world-heritage National Park, Niokolo-Koba.
The Pays Bassari is an area relatively untouched by the outside world although there were plenty of facilities for tourists, nice rooms and cold beers.
Our visit entailed visiting 2 waterfalls, several villages, village schools, a hospital and several family abodes. The scenery was fantastic and the people’s lives seemed very relaxing and free of the stresses of the western world.
Joal-Fadiout After traversing Gambia we passed through Kaolak and straight to Joal-Fadiout, a seaside village at the end of the Petite Côte, south-east of Dakar. Joal lies on the mainland, while Fadiout lies on an island of clam shells, the island is linked to the mainland by a wooden foot-bridge and the clam shells are used in local architecture and crafts.
Saint Louis Saint Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal and has therefore inherited characteristic colonial architecture, it was the most developed town we had seen since Morocco and it was nice to wander the streets.
The heart
of the old colonial city is located on a narrow island, just over 2 km long and about 400 m wide, in the Senegal River, 25 km from the mouth of the Senegal River.
The river is separated from the Atlantic Ocean to the west by a narrow sand spit, the Langue de Barbarie, which is an average of 300 m wide.
Parc National de la Langue de Barbarie This national park is a thin, sandy peninsula, adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, located in the area of Saint-Louis. The peninsula separates the ocean from the final section of the Senegal River and is home to an abundant variety of bird species. We stayed about 20km south of Saint Louis in a campement situated inside the national park and were able to use the kayaks provided to explore the park.
N'gor Before ending our trip in Afrcia we decided to relax on the beach for 10 days. We arrived in N’gor and became quite miserable at the site of all the rubbish, which actually filled one beach.
Lucky for us a 3 minute boat trip across the water there was an island which was clean
and isolated enough to be very quiet and relaxing, with a couple of nice little beaches and plenty of cheap fresh fish.
On the 28th March at 3am in the morning I flew home to the UK.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.452s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 86; dbt: 0.1324s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Eric
non-member comment
I enjoyed your Senegal post. I have always wanted to go to Africa. My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have the time, email us some at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric