Reflections of Senegal

     For the past 20 months I have lived in Senegal.  I can remember my first thoughts as I drove from Dakar to Fatick during my first days after arriving.  I saw these funny looking trees, lots of brown sand, and very flat land.  To say I was not very impressed is an understatement.  It didn't take too long for my opinion to change, though.  As I settled into my new life in Fatick, I began to see beauty in my surroundings.

Sunrise over the inland waterway in Fatick

Beautiful sunsets

Storm clouds during rainy season after months of no rain

Double rainbow after a rain

     Though I lived in a small town, it was not very quiet.  There were the constant bleating of the sheep and goats, chanting from the mosques five times a day, and the beat of drums and "singing" during times of celebration.

     There were also some inconveniences such as flooding during rainy season and dust storms during dry season.

     In spite of experiencing a little discomfort with the heat, dust, and flooding, the best and most beautiful part of my time in Senegal was the people.  They are a very friendly and hospitable people and will take the time to talk to you whether in passing on the street, riding on the horse cart, or shopping in the market.  Taking time to greet and talk is something we could do more of here in the US.  As I would walk down the street or ride a horse cart, the children would call out "Toubab" (which means white person).  It made you feel like a celebrity at first and then became a little annoying after hearing it for months.  However, the children loved to greet you, shake your hand, and find out your name.

     Though my time in Senegal has come to an end, I will never forget my time there.  A little piece of my heart remains in Senegal.  I hope and pray that I am a better person for having lived there.

Road Trip

     Saturday morning of June 1 was the beginning of our road trip to southeast Senegal.  Amanda, Lindy, Jourdan, and I loaded into the truck and headed out of Fatick around 7:00 am.  It took us about 10 hours to get all the way down to Kedougou where we were going to spend two nights.  It was hot and we were very tired so the first thing we did was hit the pool of our hotel.

     The hotel was nice and we had wonderful air conditioning.  However, the internet did not work.  We ate supper overlooking the river with the mountains in the background.  It rained all night which made for good sleeping but it was bad for our plans for the next day.  We were going to go see the waterfall which was nearby.  However, after the rain, it was not possible to make it to the falls.  That left us with nothing to do that day and still no internet.  The hotel let us check out so we headed back up to Tambacounda where we were supposed to be on Monday night.  It was closer to Niokola Koba, the park we were planning to visit on Monday.  This time our hotel had a nice pool, internet, good food, but our air conditioner was pretty bad.  Jourdan and I were so hot on Sunday night that we couldn't sleep.  I finally went to the office around midnight to sit in front of the fan to cool off.  The desk clerk decided to give us the fan for our room which was a great improvement and allowed us to finally get some sleep.

     We headed to Niokola Koba bright and early on Monday morning.  Once we got to the park we hired a truck to drive us through the park.  We sat on seats in the bed of the truck while the driver took us through the park.  The road was pretty rough so we did a lot of bouncing and had to watch out for branches.  It was a little disappointing because we didn't see too many animals but at least we had a good time together.  Here are some pictures of some of the animals that we saw.

Warthog

Baboons

Monkeys

Hippos

     Even though the trip didn't quite meet up to our expectations, we did get to see another part of Senegal and enjoy seeing green landscape.

Gambia River

Termite hill