In February or March 2016, I spent 10 days in Senegal with my dad who traveled there regularly for work.
A bit of local music to get started :)
Dakar
Downtown
The heart-surgery center for children
The heart surgery center construction site started in July 2015 and should be over before the end of the year.
Jean Mermoz french school
It felt like a world in a world. It's huge, arranged in tiers, open. Quite a good moment and an architectural experience.
Heart surgery
I didn't quite understand what was wrong with this heart but I fixed it anyway.
Our home: The Casa Mara
Saint-Louis
A whole sole fish at home! Super tasty, 10€ 🥴! The Casa Mara is a cozy and friendly place as there are many in Senegal.
On the road
Downtown
Saint-Louis is in the most northern area of the Senegalese coast, right next to the border with Mauritania. It's been an important city in the history of aviation because it was the last on the way to Brazil before crossing the Atlantic. This city is also noteworthy for the numerous buildings from the colonial era, which I'll try to show in a later post.
The Hotel de la Poste
What a place again! The HĂ´tel De La Poste of Saint-Louis is a perfectly well preserved construction from 1850, built around a patio.
The colonial life must have been terribly comfortable.
The Mermoz Hotel
We also passed by the Mermoz hotel. What do you think? Whataplace!!
Could you or would you want to live in or have deal with Senegal?
Here are some first thoughts.
It seems to me that foreigners can have complete normal relationships with local people.
Walking in the street, you are not stopped or stared at much more than a local. You don't feel as an intruder. As far as I experimented, it is also safe, in spite of the obvious difference of wealth between you and some people around.
This doesn't apply at all in touristic places, where you become a target: Going from the airport to the city, the cab will ask you for 10.000 CFA (15€) although it should be max 4.000 (6€). To avoid that, always negotiate the price before you jump in a cab. Soumbedioune market is also one of those places where tourists are targets.
Senegalese I met were mostly jovial, chill and warm people, and also had a great sense of humor. They are resolutely positive, choosing to laugh at things and try more rather than to wallow in self-pity.
Lot of things are often approximate. Punctuality, highway code, or the quality of the constructions, whether the structural works or the finish: Fixation on the walls are often loose, some surfaces are not exactly vertical, some switches are on the wrong side of the door or on the other side of the room, some pipes are visible where they should not be.
Dakar as well as Saint-Louis are quite dirty as you can see on the pictures.
The climate is very pleasant. 9 month of the year, it's 25 degree, not a single cloud, just a bit of a pleasant draft.
Traveling here, I wondered: Would I want to live or have regular activities with Senegal?
In turn, it raised the question of what really matters in the day to day life. What makes you feel good where you are? To which extent is it the climate? The social climate? The cultural proximity with people? How clean the city is? The administration efficiency?
Dakar II
On the way
Soumbédioune
At first you're with some friends in the street. Some guys talk to you. They don't even seem to know each other. Each of you just have an independent friendly conversation. Then he slowly starts telling he's an artist. His stuff are in a store near by. Then, you discover the store is not at the ground level, but on the first floor of a building, and before you realize you and your friends are in the very middle of a dozen of stores where all tenants are having a single goal: Make you buy stuff you don't want and pay 10 times the price. One of the technique is to split the group: Each member is taken apart and brought in a different room of the connected stores by a merchant. They are very insisting and what makes it hard is that they keep behaving in a very friendly way. They just do not stop when you ask them to.
There, as in most touristic spots, you're a target. Go discover the numerous tricks by yourself :)
Going to the church with Edouard
Sunday for the first time I went to church willingly! Gorgeous singing and friendly atmosphere.
Les dents de la mer
The "dents de la mer", the house of LĂ©opold SĂ©dar Senghor, first president of Senegal after the independance in 1960 and national icone who died in 2001 in Paris.
It is a museum since 2014. Barthélémy Sarr, Senghor's life long aide-de-camp, kindly gave us a tour of the inside, but we weren't allowed to make pictures. It is a splendid setting in the purest 70s style. Everything stayed exactly as it was when Senghor last left the house.
Eiffage Senegal made a great work renovating the house for free. It is a french construction industry playing in a leading role there. As far as I heard and could see, it provides high quality work and takes part in social actions such as this one or the construction of the surgery center with no benefits.
The Art Village
It is supported by the state.
I found the art esthetic and expressive, abstract but connected to reality.
Le Phare des Mamelles
The "Phare des mamelles" is the most powerful lighthouse from Senegal, visible 55km away.
The Hospital
The HĂ´pital Principal of Dakar is a facility inherited from the colonial times. The architecture is tuned to the local context. Constructions are often built around a patio or feature archways which create shadow in front of the windows and favor fresh drafts.
Eating grilled pork
Around Dakar
I hesitated because of the numerous flies hanging around and the water they used for the grill, but my Senegalese friend Edouard made fun of me and eventually, I ate a sausage. Tasty!
Gorée Island
Gorée island is half an hour away with a boat from Dakar. It's way cleaner than the continent and architecturally very cute. Tourists are likely the main revenue source. Finding a guide or piece of art will be the least of your problems there.
The Pink Lake
It's pink because of some bacteria in the water. It's even more salty than the Dead Sea and the salt is being mined by the pirogues.
Le radeau de la méduse
Dakar III
A gigantic desert beach in the middle of nowhere. It makes a strange impression to see such a nice place with no people or thing around. I think you can't find this in Europe anymore!
The SUV sinked into the sand on the way back, but we were close to the cities and we got helped by some locals. We deflated the back tires to get out!
Le radeau de la méduse sunk nearby!
Chilling with Edouard
Djoloff hotel
TchĂĽĂźi
Safety reminder
I almost forgot to post about how my travel started. Security is important. Don't miss a chance to update your knowledge of airplanes security rules.