Previous country: Mauritania
31st October 2023 – Fairly straightforward border crossing yesterday from Mauritania to Senegal. About an hour and a half total (1/2 hour Mauritania formalities). Annoyingly we had to buy a Passavant for 5,000 (£6) which gives us 5 days until we have to get our Carnet (customs document for the car) stamped in Dakar. Ridiculous but unavoidable. The scenery changed as we crossed the border, much greener in Senegal and very obviously the country is much better off than Mauritania.
Senegalese people are noticeably more friendly than the very reserved Mauritanians.
Gustave Eiffel’s bridge over the mighty Senegal river at St Louis. It had a $27 million restoration after 100 years of operation.
Many old French colonial buildings in the city of St Louis. Lots of street kids incessantly begging here though, very sad to see.
Internet poor at campsite but having coffee and jus d’orange in a cafe and using their wifi and listening to Senegalese music! Really colourful West African clothes here in contrast to the Djellabas (white or blue) of Mauritania.
Beautiful sandy beaches around the Senegal river but a very sad amount of plastic. Also huge cones of discarded clothes – the result of our clothes donation in Europe, unwanted and polluting.
1st November 2023 – on our way to Dakar to get the carnet stamped. Stopped in a small town to buy bread. There were several mopeds sheathed entirely in bubble wrap riding around the town. Innovative protection!
Tried to buy what I thought were peanuts when I saw them from the car but they turned out to be some sort of bean!
Senegal is the land of speed bumps and horse and cart (or Donkey cart) so progress can be quite slow. Distances therefore take half as much again. The speed bumps are huge but serve the purpose, especially as speed limit signs are scant. Certainly haven’t seen the accidents we saw in East Africa (especially Kenya) on the major routes.
Thankfully there aren’t the annoying frequent road blocks in Mauritania that need a “Fiche” (a printed document with all your passport details and car details). We handed out about 20 in 5 days!
Great french bread baguettes in Senegal. Not easy to spot the boulangerie though. We have had quite a bread based diet since Morocco! We are staying at the Lac Rose (pink lake) which isn’t currently looking very pink (flooding in 2022 caused it to lose its salinity and colour which is caused by a bacteria).
Hoping to go into Dakar tomorrow (probably one hour each way) to sort the carnet formalities. It hopefully won’t take too long (famous last words).
We had heard that we might come across corrupt checkpoints where they need money but nothing so far. We never paid a bribe in East Africa and hope to maintain that but accept that West Africa it may be more difficult.
There are many tailors in Senegal. Also lots of people wandering around with old small Singer sewing machines.
There are lots of coconut palms here and we have seen some vultures here at the lake. We are hoping that there won’t be too many mosquitoes! We started antimalarials back in Morocco in preparation.
We are the only people at the campsite tonight. When we drove in we had to run the gauntlet of touts hoping to persuade us to rent a quad bike to play in the sand. I guess business is slow as some of them were quite aggressive.
2nd November 2023 – the security guard at the Customs office pretended that he didn’t know what we were there for! However he eventually told us where the office was. It then took 5 minutes to do the Carnet formalities. But 2 3/4 hour round trip. Madness that they won’t do it at the border.
Dakar is busy, frenetic and polluted. Driving is stressful because you just don’t know what other drivers are going to do. There are many very old Ashok Leyland buses that stop at random and disgorge impossible numbers of people and block the route. They frequently have lethal looking metal flames protruding from the wheel arches! Typical market street scene (where we stopped to buy vegetables and £3 sandals for Rachel).
3rd November 2023 – A young Senegalese man asked yesterday for me to help him to go to Europe. He suggested that I knew the Ambassador! He explained about having to work very long hours for low pay (GDP $1,700 per capita). He talked about the migrant boats and being willing to take the risk for a better future. Heartbreaking really. I have had this conversation so many times, all over the world, but rarely so heartfelt and poignant. I try not to mislead and explain the injustice and difficulty in obtaining a Visa. It is difficult that they so often believe that it is within your gift to make it happen. He explained that he speaks Wolof (the largest of 6 ethnic groups). It is a young population here (around 20 million total I think). We need to try to learn a few words of Wolof if we get the chance!
It doesn’t get below 25 Celsius at night here so sleep is difficult. Mosquitoes are very prevalent and we used DEET last night to avoid being eaten alive. The Mosquitoes are just as bad this morning and the cab of George is full of them. They drive you slightly mad (Heart of Darkness stuff!).
I tried to deal with the GPS tracks from the logger yesterday. I managed to get them onto the OpenStreetMap app but it keeps crashing (it is a lot of data but there will be ten times more). I sent them the crash reports so maybe that will yield a solution. I like to have and publish maps of the route but it is time consuming.
It is noticeable how we can never keep our phone apps up to date here (even with relatively good wifi). So easy at home but certainly a digital divide. Irritating when apps won’t work without being updated.
Every morning there are legions of street cleaners. A thankless task with all the sand but providing employment in every town and improving the environment.
I am wearing sandals because it is too hot (and smelly!) for shoes and socks in this heat. My feet now have Zebra stripes from the sun around the straps!
Banks are few and far between here and there is always a long queue for the ATM.
Stopped by the Gendarmerie. He wanted driving licence, registration document, MOT (which he said he didn’t understand a word of!) insurance, fire extinguisher and warning triangle, one by one. Thankfully he then got bored! I am familiar with the names of most of these in French except fire extinguisher which I know now to be appropriately called an Extincteur! When he stopped us he asked if the vehicle was “normale”, what could I say except “oui”? We had expected more attempts to get a bribe in West Africa – early days but so far nothing.
Senegal has a serious problem with old dirty diesel engines. According to the UN Senegal has 2,000-5,000ppm Sulphur diesel (Europe and Morocco uses 10ppm). Lots of vehicles smoke incessantly and are poorly maintained. The problem is that these old engines thrive on the lubrication provided by high sulphur diesel so it is Catch 22. All too often you travel behind vehicles belching forth clouds of choking noxious black smoke. Thankfully George is fine with high sulphur diesel. Unsure how some of the more modern Toyota Hilux’s from Europe would fare (but there are many French travellers driving them).
Staying at a place called Fatick on another massive river delta with mangrove swamps. Papis, the owner/manager here is going to cook us local Crevettes for dinner.
The Saloum river has an impressive new 1,600m span bridge completed by the Chinese a year ago at a loan cost of $67m (we came across it to get here). It replaces a one hour ferry journey and will be a major boon to trade between countries in the region. There is a small toll 1,000 CFA (£1.30).
Thankfully there is more of a breeze here beside the Delta. Just having a cold drink now the temperature has cooled to 34 Celsius – a fridge in the 4×4 is just a wonderful luxury.
4th November 2023 – Even the Senegalese says its hot!
Morning traffic jam Senegalese style:
We ended up baby sitting this one (mum kept sending her over!)
SOUTH SENEGAL
Anchor
16th November 2023 – The policeman at the checkpoint told me to Ndànk-ndànk in Wolof language to protect Madam (meaning slowly, slowly like pole pole in Swahili)! We have returned to Senegal from The Gambia (which is surrounded by Senegal). Met up with Roland and Claudia, the Swiss couple we met on the ferry and shared making dinner.
17th November 2023 – misty and a dew this morning, not what we are used to. We plan to go to the Guinea Bissau embassy today to get our visa. Allegedly a quick and simple affair (we will see). Later we will do the eVisa application for Guinea (if internet connection is ok for uploading documents).
Got the Guinea Bissau visa quickly. They were very polite and efficient. There was a Tourist information video for the country. It looks stunningly beautiful.
We got bread (baguettes), soft drinks (trays of 24 cans), vegetables and internet data in the town of Ziguinchor. We tried the supermarket but there wasn’t much there. Buying vegetables in the covered market (which had a amazing arrange of fish including a huge Barracuda).
Had hassle from a policeman in the town. I got to a junction and he waved me across. I then heard him whistling but ignored it thinking it was for someone else. The next I knew the policeman arrived on the back of a motorbike shouting at me.
I explained to him in French that I hadn’t made a mistake and that he had waved me across. He started filling in a piece of paper and I told him No! repeatedly. I stood my ground while he ranted. He then told me that I was parked illegally and made me move!! Ludicrous. I then told him in English that I had to go and his countenance changed completely so I carried on speaking in English and he gave me my driving licence back and let me go!! It was clear from the outset that he thought we were a sure certainty for something for his pocket!! At the end of it I was shaking both from his shouting and partly from anger at him thinking that he could cheat us this way. In the future I will speak in English from the outset and not use French language.
We applied online for the Guinea eVisa and it was granted and emailed within 30 minutes or so. We think we will have to print it somehow though.
18th November 2023 – we make fresh coffee every morning using ground coffee in a Thermos flask using a tea strainer! I don’t know how long the ground coffee will last, it may be difficult to buy more of reasonable quality for a sensible price (you get rather frugal travelling overland). There isn’t much to buy even in the larger shops. Although yesterday’s bizarrely had lots of pates in jars presumably for French tourists. They looked rather dusty!
We are using 100% DEET but the Mosquitoes still feast on us (particularly ankles). The tent has good built in mosquito nets but the blighters still find a way. Our backs are covered in bites.
Moved on to near Cap Skirring, a nice quiet chilled campsite near the beach. We are told that local fishermen sell their catch on the beach at 11am so we may go in search tomorrow.
The beach here is amazing, huge, deserted and very little plastic. There are traditional fishing boats (called Pirogue) that we have seen all the way down from Mauritania and a small market. The Senegalese coast has some of the world’s richest fishing grounds.
There are an extraordinary number of different moths here of all sizes. A naturalists paradise:
We are expecting the roads to markedly worsen in Guinea Bissau. So far we have had amazingly good roads with the only potholed roads being here in Casamance (they often have lines marked around them so remind us of the UK!). This region of Senegal has had ongoing low level conflict for years and wants independence.
19th November 2023 – went to the beach and the fishing Pirogues were just returning around 10:30am. They put out bait the day before and return at 6am to get the catch. There was a huge Captain fish amoung the catch of one boat:
Also Lobsters, not big but beautifully coloured:
There were also Catfish, Sole, Angel fish, Crabs. Lots of fish that we didn’t know the names of in English.
They salt and dry a lot of fish on racks here and send them to Dakar:
We bought a kilo and a half of Sole for 3,000 CFA (£3.75). I started to gut and skin it but one of the Senegalese who works here helped me (more accurately did it for me!). I asked on the beach if they would filet fish for me and they said yes but I think only if we ate there. The guys here told us that we can use their kitchen to cook and told us that this is our home now. They are very kind.
This weird spiny fish was left on the beach as they don’t eat well:
Other fish in today’s catch:
Some of the guys at the camp made lunch for us and our German neighbours who are a family (with 3 daughters) living in an ex Firetruck for 18 months. Lunch was rice and fish with onions and an oil sauce. It was very kind of them and was very tasty (although we had already eaten our lunch!). We then talked to the German couple about their life on the road and their plans for the future. Interesting insights and discussion about long term travels and the way we live in Europe compared to the places we visit.
20 November 2023 – went for a walk along the beach. Sad to see a dead Dolphin and a dead Turtle. Visited the village to get bread (they had a choice of baguette or tapalapa) and some eggs. There was a small market in the village with lots of small piles of bitter tomatoes for sale. There must be quite a few Christians here as there is a graveyard and they are rearing pigs. There were lots of goats using the gravestones to keep cool!
We pan fried half the sole we bought today in a mixture of oil and knobs of butter with some black pepper and lemon juice. Simple but absolutely delicious. Thought of my late father who loved fish, particularly sole. He would have really enjoyed it.
21st November 2023 – proving difficult to keep the leisure battery charged as yesterday was overcast and we are parked under an Acacia tree. The fridge has low current draw but in 24 hours it is draining the battery. We were given some fresh peanuts from a small bed near where we are parked. Quite different from dried peanuts. They use the fresh ones in cooking here.
The biodiversity here is simply extraordinary. We have seen so many different insects and plants. It is amazing what they can grow in sandy soil. Lots of rice as it is a staple:
Just had the rest of the Sole for lunch. How decadent is that? No doubt Churchill would have washed it down with some Dom Perignon however!
We have moved on in anticipation of Guinea Bissau tomorrow. Nice campsite with a beautiful garden full of bougainvillea and other tropical plants (Frangipani, Lantana, Golden trumpet, Sago palm). There are rooms around a central courtyard.
There are some Senegalese moulding breeze blocks here – Seyni and Julien, all from one family. They are making them really well using a metal mould. They made 29 blocks from just one bag of cement in a short time. They made another 70 before they stopped for the day! They need to make 1,000 for the extension to the lodge. They work hard and so well together, mixing, moulding and turning out the blocks with great skill and coordination.
We visited the kitchen to talk about Dinner and she is going to make prawns (Crevettes) for us which sounds great (not sure how they will be cooked but anything from the sea here is amazingly fresh and tasty. She was peeling huge quantities of garlic that she crushes and then preserves in oil. Great idea.
Dinner was tasty Crevettes sauted in garlic with a homemade yoghurt dessert with dark local honey.
22nd November 2023 – beautiful sunrise this morning.
Slight change of plan. We are going to visit the Manatee viewpoint (Lamontin in French) and stay another night before going to Guinea Bissau.
We saw Manatees immediately we arrived and watched them for about one hour. Really lucky as normally low tide is the best time which was 6am. Virtually impossible to photo however! The viewpoint was at Pointe Sainte George and we drove through a huge cashew nut plantation to get there. A beautiful area. On the way all the speed bumps are marked as “Dos d’Ane” which I believe translates as Donkey backs!
Lovely single tree canoes on the beach with amazing wood grain. They keep them filled with water to avoid them splitting in the heat.
Seyni and Julien (who are making the blocks next to our camping spot) invited us to visit their home this evening. We met the whole extended family who live ensemble in one home (3 or 4 generations as far as I could gather and all of Julien’s brothers and sisters and their children). One of the family is a boulangère (baker) and we were told that the bread that we had purchased that morning had been made by her! Tomorrow they are going to bring us two of her loaves for breakfast! Julien’s brother was very well informed and articulate and even asked me about David Cameron returning to the Cabinet (he wasn’t impressed by the method or by politicians in general!) and also about Brexit!
Dinner this evening was Brochettes de Lotte (Monkfish kebabs). Melt in the mouth delicious. The fish here is simply extraordinary, it makes me realise what we have lost in the UK now. As a child we often had local fresh fish at reasonable prices.
Large Chinese boats are taking too many fish here and I am told politicians receive money to allow it. The local fishermen are hence suffering with fish stocks being depleted. An environmental and economic disaster in the making.
The lodge wifi here has no password. Inevitably and amusingly all the youth of the area hang around outside to blag free data in the evenings!
23rd November 2023 – as promised 2 tapalapa bread arrived still hot from the oven. Sad to say “a bientot” to Seyni and Julien. They say that when we return they will take us to another village where their grandparents are. Julien had been planting citrus and papayas there. Seyni, the Toubab and Julien:
Return to Senegal
- Return
2nd February 2024 – only a short time doing the formalities on the border on the Senegalese side. So much easier than the Guinean side where they had duplicated everything several times over.
It is 38 degrees here, even the locals think it is hot!
Great to have internet that actually works! We take for granted that internet isn’t blocked or filtered. (Ironic considering what followed)
3rd February 2024 – After all the dust in Guinea George is having a good wash:
So much dust and mud came off. The red dust is slightly caustic it seems. It has been eating into the galvanised coating of the roof rack! The environment in Africa is harsh for sure. He made a good job of cleaning with a pressurised system. Even did the engine bay and underneath. We did have to remind him about the top of the vehicle however!
We visited a tyre place because the tubed tyre has a slow puncture. Lost half its pressure during the day yesterday. They couldn’t find anything however so we will just have to keep checking it.
Stopped for lunch near a village. Even mud huts have a satellite dish!:
We are bush camping on the banks of the Casamance river. There are cormorants and egrets here and a troop of monkeys.
In a televised address the current President has today cancelled the upcoming election claiming a dispute over the candidate list. There are calls for protests on social media. We will be monitoring carefully. He isn’t standing for re-election (but now he doesn’t have to!!). Scheming worthy of Machiavelli!
Tonight’s sunset over the river:
4th February 2024 – back to beautiful Casamance. Got fuel and supplies in Ziguinchor. Now staying on Oussouye again at Swiss owned place (with good food!). Met up with Seyni who we met last time. He told us of a music and African dance festival in the village called Fête du Vin (Palm Wine) that celebrates harvest so we are thinking of returning for that.
5th February 2024 – visited the manatees again. There were a few frolicking in the Casamance river. Great to see. There is a new viewing tower which is now operational.
6th February 2024 – staying at casa giraffe. Owned by a french man in his 70s who has had a stroke and is said to be returning to Paris at some point.
He adopted a Senegalese who is now around 30 and is helping others in their education (who seem to help with his care summoned by a bell!). There are lots of people living here but it is a mystery what they all do! Edmund the manager is very attentive and cooked fish with delicious salad with mustard dressing last night plus sweet potato with some spice to dip them in.
Tonight he will cook prawns and rice.
The mobile internet blocking continues. We have no idea when it will end. It seems strange to be isolated from the outside world with no idea what is happening anywhere (let alone in Senegal). It feels slightly disturbing not to know if there is any unrest in the country. It was noticeable that there were military stationed around the routes to Cap Skirring. I was keeping a daily log of mileage on excel stored on Microsoft Onedrive but of course it remained inaccessible. We may well depart fot the Gambia and then at least we can assess the situation in Northern Senegal before entering. In theory my NordVPN should have bypassed the blocking but it didn’t work. Much debate on the overland WhatsApp group about which VPN is best!
The tubed tyre continues to deflate but very slowly. Took it to a tyre place with Edmund but they were only interested in selling a new tube or new tyre. They said that they wouldn’t repair the tyre claiming a repair wouldn’t be successful but they hadn’t even looked at it! We will just monitor it. I have a tubeless tyre repair kit but not one for repairing tubes. We intend to find a motorbike tyre repair kit in Ziguinchor so we can make a repair if necessary. We still have a Michelin tube if necessary.
Had a lazy day around the pool today with a couple of dips in the pool. Lovely considering the extreme heat at present.
7th February 2024 – internet block lifted this morning with no warning. It doesn’t feel comfortable in Senegal at the moment. We have seen messages circulating calling for civil disobedience.
We went to buy fish from the Pirogue fishermen this morning.
8th February 2024 – paid for the camping. I felt for the gardener, he seems to have been left in charge and doesn’t know what is happening. The swiss owners have disappeared and aren’t telling him anything! The guardian doesn’t talk to him and goes off fishing in the night when he should be doing his work. I didn’t know what to advise him to be honest.
We are now back in Oussouye for the fête du vin.
9th February 2024 – met Jean-Christophe Renault a Belgian composer and pianist and his wife Véronique Gillet a classical guitarist. He was recording Rachel reading his lyrics!
Chatted to Seyni this morning. He was explaining some of the local traditions such as the King of Casamance and the various fêtes. He showed me videos on YouTube of some of the past ones. We are hoping to visit the fête in the evening now. Everything seems to be on African time (but at least it will be cooler by then). It has been close to 40 degrees today. The fête was billed to start at 10am but was postponed to 8pm. Something about the school needing to operate! There are Muslims, Christians and Animists here in the village. The fête inevitably involved serious drinking. We met one of Seyni’s old school friends (Romeo!) who was 3 sheets to the wind but very friendly! There were lots of guns which were fired into the air, mostly at a large tree canopy which must be peppered with shot. Alcohol and guns is not a great mix! We tried to visit the King but he was too busy! I guess the fête is a big thing for him. He lives in the sacred forest and strangers are not allowed in uninvited.
10th February 2024 – we have to move on again. It was great seeing Seyni again and seeing village life. It is a hard part of travelling to have to leave new friends. Hopefully we will return to Senegal again one day.
We drove through Ziguinchor this morning and it looked like a war zone. Burnt barracades, broken glass everywhere, debris in the streets and lots of military.
We therefore decided to leave Senegal for Gambia.
Return to North Senegal
Return