Quest for 243

A global nomad's pursuit to see all 195 countries, 39 territories, & 9 de-facto nations

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Month: October 2019

Senegal

October 14, 2019

Senegal Day #7: My Attempt to Ride Dakar’s New Commuter Train Fails as It’s Still Under Construction

Being a transit geek, I was so excited to ride Dakar’s new commuter rail this evening on my last day in Senegal. I had read some articles online indicating the line had opened in mid-January. So you can imagine my despair when I found out the railway is still under construction!

After returning to Dakar from Goree Island, I walked one-fifth of a mile from the port to the central train station, but to my great surprise found it surrounded by barricades and very much still under renovation. I had read the first segment of the Dakar Regional Express Train to the eastern suburb of Diamniadio opened in January. But apparently, I would later read after today’s misadventure, that was only the first test run, not the beginning of passenger service.

Senegal

Senegal Day #7: Visiting Humanity’s Shameful
Past at Goree Island World Heritage Site

It’s my final day in Senegal. I spent this afternoon visiting a tragic reminder of the slave trade. Many “merchants” built houses here on Goree Island – just a couple miles off the westernmost part of continental Africa – in which they would live and work in the upper story and store their human cargo on the lower floor. Slaves-to-be awaited their transportation across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.

This island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was an important slave-trading station during the 1700s and 1800s. It’s well known for the infamous “Doorway to Nowhere” in the Slave House – which President Barack Obama visited in 2013 – that opens directly from the holding cells to the sea, where captives would be brought out to ocean-going vessels in small boats.

“The Island of Goree is an exceptional testimony to one of the greatest tragedies in the history of human societies: the slave trade,” according to UNESCO. “The various elements of this ‘memory island’ – fortresses, buildings, streets, squares, etc. – recount, each in its own way, the history of Goree which, from the 15th to the 19th century, was the largest slave-trading center of the African coast.”

Senegal

October 12, 2019

Senegal Day #6: Bus from Saint-Louis to Dakar

Today marks 15 months as a global nomad! I rode a Senegal Dem Dikk bus 4 hours 53 minutes from Saint-Louis to back to the capital of Dakar. The trip went smoothly, although we made a few too many stops, seemingly letting passengers off at any place they desired rather than just servicing official bus depots.

Picked up my bags from the hotel at 2:22 and had a taxi ride of about 2½ miles (F1,000; $1.72) to the bus depot to begin my journey back to Dakar. Arrived at the depot at 2:34. Wow, what a “bus station” for a city of 178,000! It’s just a sandy lot with two buses parked, an abandoned tractor, goats, and lots of garbage.

Senegal

October 9, 2019

Senegal Day #5: Evening in Saint-Louis Wandering Through Guet N’Dar & the Historic Center

I’ve been to Africa five times before, but the sights I saw today in western Saint-Louis were still eye-popping: all the colorful fishing boats, carts drawn by horse and donkey, animals everywhere, horrendous piles of garbage, most streets that are all sand, and on and on.

It all amounts to a photographer’s paradise, with the itch to shoot every few seconds.

Mauritania

Walking into Far Southwestern Mauritania
My 129th Country

I walked across the unmarked, unpatrolled border from Saint-Louis, Senegal, into Mauritania this afternoon, achieving my 129th country.

After spending a few hours this afternoon exploring the former French colonial capital of Saint-Louis, I walked 1.2 miles from the end of the road in northwestern Saint-Louis along a track through the sand into undeveloped far southwestern Mauritania on a narrow spit of land called the Langue de Barbarie. It separates the Senegal River from the Atlantic Ocean. It’s my first time unofficially/illegally crossing a national border!

Senegal

October 8, 2019

Senegal Day #5: Starting to Explore the
UNESCO World Heritage City of Saint-Louis

This afternoon I got out to wander around Saint-Louis, a UNESCO World Heritage city established in 1659 by French traders on an uninhabited island called Ndar. It was the first permanent French settlement in Senegal. I then set out for the Mauritanian border, seeking to visit a new country.

Saint-Louis, population 178,000, was the first French settlement in West Africa. The city center is located on an island in the Senegal River. The island is connected to the mainland by the Pont Faidherbe, designed by Gustav Eiffel for the Danube River in Europe but moved to Senegal in 1897.

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