With the time slowly running out on my stay I was left with two choices – either go to Senegal and discover this beautiful country and its people or go with Almou to Lomé, capital of Togo, buy a car there and do Benin, Togo, Ghana and Burkina Faso trip on our way back to Bamako. It was an easy choice deciding to do Lomé and the road trip. Just that I ended up going to Senegal instead. Ja, I know, my plans…
Well we honestly were to do the car buying and road trip. I even have a brand shiny multiple entry Togolese visa in my passport. But… But we were waiting for the rest of the money from the car sale. And the guy was running late. Very late. After a week of doing nothing in Bamako it was becoming clear I am running out of time. And decision was made. Scrap that, I’m going to Senegal. Now, it was saturday afternoon and all agencies were already closed. On sunday obviousely too. Then surprisingly monday was a public holiday. Christian one at that! So it was tuesday that I finally managed to get hold of tickets to fly to Dakar, Senegal with very little time left. By wednesday morning I was roaring to go. And my head afforded itself a quality headache. Aparently from sleeping right under strong ventilators at night.
I was flying Ethiopian airlines which I was really looking forward too as they are supposed to be this great african airline. And of course I don’t remember much. My head took care of occupying itself by pulsating like hell. Anyhow by following Bram’s advice I have arrived at hotel Lumumba in Yoff which is a up and coming Dakar’s suburb and immediately felt at home. The area is bustling with life, little shops and friendly people. The evening was reserved for dinner with Bram and his girlfriend Hadu which we spent in a real gem of a restaurant – a touch of mediterranean style in the middle of Dakar, run by friendly Senegalese couple that had met working in Italy. Now I had my ideas regarding where I wanna go in Senegal but Bram and Hadu had directed me to calm and friendly city of Saint Louis up north. And they were right.
And they were right. Saint Louis was good. I have spent two pleasant days strolling along its interesting fishing community, chatting away with locals and having interesting discussions with Hadu’s friend and dancer Alioune. In between all that I have even managed to see a high school play at the local CCF – a joint effort by Senegalese and French school. But the real surprise came in form of 62 year old former railway worker from Washington, USA which I met over breakfast in La Lousianne. Well, to put it simply, he is doing what I was planning to do. West Africa by any means. He saw all the countries I wanted to see and some more using only buses, bush taxies, bikes and such. At the age of 62. Interesting man, interesting conversation.
But after two days I had enough of Saint Louis and hopped into first bush taxi (or sept place as they are known in Senegal) and made my way back to Dakar. Where, by pure chance I have discovered what I was looking for all the time. A proper beach bar. Sitting in a wooden chair with a bottle of La gazelle in front of me while watching a lone surfer catching last waves while the sun was going down over the Atlantic. Perfect intro into nice dinner with Hadu before I was to leave for Senegalese Petite côte the next morning.