Traveling from Dakar to Saint-Louis, Senegal, in a Cramped “Sept Place” Taxi

April 15, 2019

SAINT-LOUIS, Senegal – I woke up late again today and couldn’t get on the last bus from Dakar to Saint-Louis. So I ended up having the adventure of riding more than 4½ hours in a jammed “sept place” (seven-seat) shared taxi to reach the first French settlement in West Africa, which today is Senegal’s sixth-most-populous city.

Got up at 11:42 a.m. in Dakar. I continued to feel awful. Didn’t get much sightseeing in yesterday or the day before thanks to my Hypersomnolence Disorder. I slept 17½ hours Saturday, 18 hours Sunday, and 10 hours today. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I felt no energy. Supposed to travel to Saint-Louis today but I really didn’t feel like. I checked online about extending my hotel booking a day, but it’s showing sold out. Instead I phoned the front desk and obtained a 2 p.m. check-out time.

Checked my Saint-Louis hotel reservation. It is nonrefundable, so I should get up there. Just didn’t have the energy to pack and deal with African public transportation. But I dragged myself into the shower, ate snacks for lunch, and packed.

Checked out at 1:59 and grabbed a taxi (CFA 3,000; $5.18) to Liberte 5 bus station.

I learned the last Senegal Dem Dikk bus of the day to Saint-Louis (at 3 p.m.) was sold out. Damnit!

Now I had to take another cab to the Gare Routière des Baux Maraichers “bush taxi” depot in eastern Dakar to find alternate transportation. Negotiated the fare down from CFA 5,000 asking price to CFA 3,000. The driver seemed confused about where I want to go even though the depot is a major landmark and I showed him on my phone’s GPS map. So frustrating!

This trip was only five miles but took 35 minutes through city traffic. Would have been shorter, though, had the cab driver not missed the exit and we went 1.7 miles past the depot before turning around.

Upon arrival at 3:33 p.m. at Gare Routière des Baux Maraichers, I found organized chaos. The lot is full of old beaten-up vans and seven-seat Peugeot station wagons known as “sept place” (“seven seats”), a common form of intercity transportation in Senegal.

It didn’t take too long to locate a sept place bound for Saint Louis. These vehicles don’t run on any schedule. Rather they depart once full.

The fare is fixed by the government at CFA 5,000, but I had to pay an extra CFA 2,000 for my three small bags. Apparently luggage charges are at the driver’s discretion. So my total fare came to CFA 7,000 ($12.08).

I waited about 20 minutes before my station wagon had seven passengers and was ready to depart at 4:02 p.m. It’s 166 road miles from Dakar to Saint-Louis (112 straight-line miles up the coast).

All seven passengers and the driver were men. We were really crammed in there – my head touched the roof as I sat in the last row at the left window.

Bags were stuffed in the trunk and tied to the roof. You can’t get more real than this! Definitely an authentic African experience.

There’s three rows of seats: driver and front passenger, then two rows of three. Unfortunately my window doesn’t open for any ventilation.

It’s another beautiful day here in Dakar as we pulled out of the bush-taxi lot. I’ve had perfect weather since I’ve been here, though I haven’t been able to enjoy it much since I’ve been feeling lousy.

Departing Dakar, Senegal, En Route to Saint-Louis in a “Sept Place” Taxi

As we passed over the A1 tollway, the other passengers asked me for some money to pay the tolls. Guess that’s not included in the fare I paid. My contribution to the tolls was CFA 200 (35¢).

I had hoped to make it to Saint-Louis by sundown, but that’s not going to happen. I had no idea what the bus schedule was and didn’t check into that in advance. That was a mistake not getting a ticket in advance.

We drove over the new regional train line that I thought opened in January, but would later find out it’s still under construction.

My shared taxi continued driving through city streets; not sure why we passed the tollway but haven’t gotten on it.

At last we merged onto the A1 heading east out of Dakar. Quite a contrast having just passed many horse-drawn carts in the city and then we’re on a multi-lane freeway similar to a U.S. interstate highway.

The distance to the N2 junction is 30 miles. There is no highway along the coast; we have to go inland for awhile and then back to the northwest to Saint-Louis, which is on the Atlantic Ocean in far northwest Senegal on the border with Mauritania.

There’s a broken-down taxi being pushed off the highway as we approach the first toll plaza.

After paying at a second toll plaza, we went by the Dakar Arena, a fancy new building out in the middle of nowhere. Not sure what that’s used for. The tollway now has two lanes each direction. The speed limit is 110 kph (68 mph).

We exited the tollway at 4:37 p.m. and had to pay one final fee of CFA 500 (86¢). Merged onto eastbound N2. It’s exactly 100 miles to Saint-Louis as the crow flies, but will be longer by road since we have to go inland and then back to the sea.

Driving on N2 Through Sebikotane, Thies, & Tivaouane En Route to Saint Louis, Senegal

Route N2 is a two-lane highway. We passed through the town of Sebikotan, making a quick stop on the side of the road for some passengers to buy bags of oranges. The taxi was swarmed by orange vendors.

We made a left turn onto the VCN Bypass around Thies, rejoining the N2 at 5:28.

Coming into the outskirts of Tivaouane, we passed a gas station. I noticed the price was CFA 595 per liter, so that makes it $3.90 per gallon.

Between towns we were keeping a speed of about 50 mph with light traffic.

One thing I observed is how sandy everything is; like a semi-desert environment. This part of West Africa is called the Sahel, which is a semi-arid climate south of the Sahara Desert. First thing I noticed in Dakar is how dusty it is; you can smell it in the air.

Just before 7 p.m., we came into Kebemer. A lot of these buildings are under construction. Mysterious. Are they unfinished houses or abandoned properties or what? Seems to be quite a number of them. Also a good number of horse-drawn carts, which is always an eye opener to see coming from the United States.

Driving on N2 Through Tivaouane, Meckhe, & Kebemer En Route to Saint-Louis, Senegal

As sunset nears, we pass through the village of Gueoul. Route N2 has been in excellent condition – well-maintained asphalt the entire way so far. Although my butt was getting sore being cramped into the back seat. With my head pressed against the low ceiling, it’s certainly not the most comfortable of trips, but it’s been fascinating to take in the scenery as we zoom along.

We went by a mosque just before the sun set at 7:20 p.m. southwest of Louga. The mosques are pretty modest here in Senegal. Not too big, and I haven’t seen many tall minarets. Certainly nothing like in the wealthy Middle East countries.

Arriving into Saint-Louis, Senegal, After Driving Through Gueoul, Louga, Mpal, & Gandon

My watch beeped 8:00 p.m.. We were flying along for the last 20-30 minutes without any villages to slow us down. Coming up is the small town of Mpal, about 20 miles from Saint-Louis. I was getting quite hungry and a little tired of sitting in the cramped positon.

We make our first stop at 8:29 p.m. – that’s right, not a single food or bathroom break the entire trip! – a few miles outside Saint-Louis for the driver to deliver something to a kiosk in the suburb of Gandon.

Just after crossing the causeway into Saint-Louis, we made a left turn off the N2 and crawled through a bit of traffic for three minutes until arriving at the bush-taxi lot at 8:46 p.m. I’d have to take a taxi from there three miles to my hotel. Trip time from Dakar = 4 hours 42 minutes.

Pulled up to Hotel de la Poste at 9:03 p.m. Fare was CFA 2,500 ($4.31). Checked in, dropped my stuff, then grabbed dinner at nearby Flamingo restaurant.

I had a yummy plate of medallions of fish and prawns with coconut milk Malaysian style with madras rice for CFA 6,800 ($11.73).

Back to my room at 10:50 to unpack and get ready for bed. Posted today’s photos and watched an episode of “NCIS” before bed at 1:00 a.m. WiFi is quite slow – 2.36 Mbps download; 0.39 upload.

Tomorrow I plan to explore Saint-Louis. I also will try to walk across the border into Mauritania to check that country off my list. The border is only about two miles north of here, but I’m not sure if it will be guarded or fenced. Surprisingly there is no official border crossing from Saint-Louis into Mauritania, which seems odd since this is Senegal’s sixth-largest city.