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Published: October 23rd 2010
Île de Gorée
Lovely island, great football, nice beaches and before I forget: a lovely Dutch history of slave trading.....A Happy Puppy in Dakar
Once disembarked the ship, we were looked after by the representative of Grimaldi in Dakar. He drove us to the immigration, which basically was the port's police office. Got the entry stamps and they said we can stay in the country as long as we want. We looked surprised, but as they were also surprised at our question I guess they don't know much about these rules. No problem for us... At least as long as we don't run into problems when we leave the country.
We found a cheap hotel (read: a local brothel), recommended by LP and it was actually acceptable. Our room was far from the 'active' section, so no disturbing noises... Amazing how tolerant one becomes after travelling for so long... We spent the weekend in Dakar as we arrived on a Friday afternoon, so had to wait till Monday for the Mali Embassy to open. Dakar is nothing special, not much to see. But anyhow Chris was walking like a happy puppy through the streets, happy to be back in West Africa (the previous time still being a student). Talking to the people while Agi stumbled along a bit
The beach at Gorée
Nice cool water, where we also joined for a happy splash. disorientated. But the markets are nice, walking on the streets can be quite a hassle. There are hundreds of eager vendors trying to sell their stuff and if you make a little glance at what they are selling, then it takes some effort to get rid of them. Rule nr. 1: always smile when you say no!
Île de Gorée - the Dutch are known here....
Sunday afternoon we took a little boat ride to visit this tiny island. It got its fame after the "House of Slaves" which is a large bulding built for storing the slaves before shipping them all over the world; mostly to South America. The Dutch had a big part in the slave trade, made quite some money on it. But besides this sad building (separate quarters for men, women and children) there is much more to see on this island. Where the old castle/WWII bunker used to be now local artists work in their tiny ateliers, some of them set up in bunkers, others in little corridors or just under a sheet of stretched canvas. There are also many colorful colonial style buildings, really nice atmosphere.
This Sunday there were festivities
Residential area
Guess the tourist were not really supposed to go here... on the island as the Cup de Mer (the island's own football competition) was being held, many football matches on the dusty field with a huge baobab in the middle of the field and live music on a stage at the beach, sponsored by Orange. Yes, this company is big here. The fun was disturbed by a long, refreshing shower, but later on the sky cleared up so the music was back and we even went for a swim in the sea.
The Fishy smell of Yoff
Next morning we quickly applied for the Mali visa and decided to change residence: moved to Yoff, which used to be a small fishing village, but which is by now apparently a suburb of Dakar. We have a secondhand guidebook, which is 5 years old, but it could not have developed THAT fast.... We didn't do much here besides having a walk on the beach (covered with dead fish parts and garbage as a result of the fishing activity) and reading our books. We had to wait till Wednesday to pick up our passports.
Parque de Bandia and further East
Wednesday we took a bush taxi (7-seater old Peugeot)
Merchant houses
And at just a quiet spot nearby we were enjoying the views with a nice cold drink. to a little safari park: Parque Bandia. It was nice, we had a jeep for ourselves (low season) for 2 hours. The park is good for spotting wildlife, half of it is 'imported' from S-Africa, but the big attraction were the Rhinos. We didn't see them and after the trip we heard there are only 2 of them... From here we managed to get on the bus transporting the park employees to Mbour. We were happy for the cheap ride with friendly people and the driver was happy for the extra pocket money. We just spent the night in a hotel which probably had better times, but the staff were friendly and Agi had a great time, see the pics for details.
From Bandia we had to cross Senegal towards the Mali border. Stopovers in Kaolack and Tambacounda. In itself not much to do there, but good to sniff up the local atmosphere and to browse on the streets without a tourist hassle. The so-called highlights for Kaolack were the tea session underneath a tree. You can turn down a tea, but only if you smile. But once you've accepted one, you're stuck for 2 hours as at least
Old colonial houses
Note the cute washing line between the Baobab trees. three cups of tea must be served before you can walk away without insulting the host. But when they make tea, it's not just for the guests, but also for everybody else on the street which the tea guy knows and he knows a lot of people.... The second good item was the market. Yes, it's huge and inside the locals fabricate their own sandals, clothes and herbal stuff. We were taken around by our tea guy, our own self-imposed guide. No matter what the tea guy said, Chris still believes that Marche de Dantopka in Cotonou is larger....
And what about Tamba???? No that much, internet and arranging our 20 hour busride to Bamako, Mali. But the road to Tamba was a small horror. We made the minor mistake of showing up at the bus station AFTER breakfast, so the morning rush was gone and besides that we opted for the cheapest transport: the bus which leaves only after it's full of people. When we arrived only 4 seats were taken... 3.5 hours later we left the station and it took us an additional 7 hours to get to Tamba, instead of the expected 5 hours.... Yes, faster
Tourist stuff...
... on the fortress of Gorée transport is available and yes, next time we'll take it!
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