7 Days in Dakar, Senegal

Day 1

Imagine my culture shock as I alighted from my 20-hour long plane ride to Dakar. I was bombarded by the sounds and voices of the Arabic language. I felt like I was at a concert where the chaos and the music did not match. I was quickly scooped up from my feet by a rickshaw, and off we went to The Grand Mosque. This is a very sacred religious worshiping palace. These Muslim people worship for hours at a time. I was not allowed in because tourists were forbidden. Wow! From the crazy chaos of foreign voices and their chopped up language with accents in weird places, to the quietness and sanctuary of The Grand Mosque, it has been a big first day.

Day 2
After I packed up some food in a basket for my picnic, I called for a taxi and traveled to the enormous Baobab tree. This tree is otherwise known as the Monkey-Bread Tree or the Upside Down Tree. The reason why it is called the Upside Down Tree is because it looks like someone plucked it out of the ground and slammed it upside down back into the earth. This unusual tree is used in many different ways. The rough bark is used for rope and clothing, the monkey bread is actually a fruit that is eaten by many Senegal people, and finally the leaves are made into different kinds of medicine. It was hard to miss this conspicuous giant with its gnarly branches and very thick trunk.

Day 3
In the morning I decided to join a tour group that was traveling to Lake Lac Rose. As we traveled around the Lake we saw the piles and piles of salt that looked like mini ancient Egyptian pyramids all in white. I am guessing from all of the salt here that the Senegali people make a lot of money by exporting this salt all around the world. When I heard the tour guide say "Now if you look to your left you will see the many miners that we have working here today." I was amazed by how many workers there were; there must have been twenty people per mining hole, and there were at least forty of these holes. That's 800 people working on the salt mine! After the tour was over the tour guide handed each of us some salt chunks. For some reason I bit a hunk out of mine and spit it out immediately; the taste was so overwhelming. Some souvenir! I had a great educational day today, and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Day 4
Today I am going to the Isle de Goree. This island is an island from Dakar's colonial past. This is one of the places where all the slaves were kept. During this historical time the slaves' masters would beat these helpless people until the slaves did exactly as they were told. The island living space is basically all enclosed, and the slaves were held down with a ball and chain. This was a horrible sight for me, someone who believes in freedom for everyone. I even got to feel what it must have been like to be one of those slaves-- as I ran my hand over the rusty, rough, cold metal ball and chain it made me deeply sad and shudder. As a tourist, I was able to try on the ball and chain, and the ball alone was about twenty pounds. I could barely walk! I found this odd and not very pleasing to have to feel the physical and emotional weight of these slaves. But I am glad that I went to the island because I believe that they should free all of the slaves, and some how visiting here and learning more felt like the right thing to do.

Day 5
Now today will be a little different than the other days, as today I am catching a bus and going off to the marketplace. At the marketplace I looked around for things to buy or barter, and all of a sudden I heard this man calling to me, "Hey you!" he shouted. I turned around and we caught eyes, and he said, "Yes you, come over here! I know you want to buy something from me." So I thought, "Hmmm...Maybe he has some cool things." I walked over to his market stall and my eyes were caught by all the colors and textures I saw. Racks of hand-made jewelry (especially pearls), and beautifuly made clay pottery. The man kept trying to make me buy pearls. I guess he noticed that I was a muzungu (foreigner). I kept talking to him and eventually I bought something for my mom. I realized that he was a very poor man who actually lived benaeath his pearl stand at night, and only had one meal a day. We had a long conversation, and I realized that the last bus was leaving in five minutes, so I gave him some extra money and scampered back to the bus make-shift bus stop. I was the last one on the rattley old bus, and they almost closed the doors on me. But before I knew it, I was back at my Dakar home, in my bed, falling asleep.

Day 6

Today I visited the Dakar Presidential Palace. This palace was built in 1906 during the colonial era. During this era the Governor lived in this grand palace, but now, obviously the President of Senegal lives here; Leopold Sedar Senghor. The palace is surrounded with lush tropical gardens. This beautiful mansion is surrounded with Red Guards that obviously patrol the Presidential Palace. I was able to take a picture with these guards in their crisp uniforms. So now I am back at my hotel and I'm about to go to sleep.


Day 7
Well, I guess I saved the best for last. When you think of Africa most people think of going on safari. I too wanted see the animals on the Senegal safari! It was amazing, and it was also surprising to me. This was surprising because most people sign up for an African safari to see giraffes and zebras and lions (Oh my!). Instead of giraffes and zebras and lions, I saw colorful, vibrant birds. Right and left throughout the natural preserve there were 7-up can colored, parakeets and parrots. I also saw some oxen trudging through some dead grass. I was amazed by the size of this humongous beast. It must have weighed one-thousand pounds, and I am not exaggerating. But probably the most remarkable sight of the day was not a mammal nor a bird, it was a huge bright orange, bright red, and bright pink sunset.
When I got back to my hotel, I packed up my things and caught my 11:00 PM flight back home. Flying home I realized that there was one thing missing. Senegal had no clean, fresh water, so I looked on my computer and I found out that an organization named INBO General Assembly of International Network of Water Basins is active in Senegal. This organization works to mantain extreme climate conditions like flood or drought, and preserve clean water. I will leave Senegal as I found it by making a contribution to the INBO.