Our first port in West Africa was Dakar, Senegal. The temperature was warming up - mid 80's today. We took a ½ day morning tour of Dakar. It is the capital of Senegal with 4M people. Senegal has about 12M. They got their independence from France in 1960. French is the official language but our guide spoke excellent English. The downtown area was very congested with lots of taxis, colorful, crowded buses and people walking everywhere. This is primarily a Muslim country so many women cover their heads. Most of the women were beautifully dressed in colorful long dresses with matching scarves or head pieces. But the city is very dirty with trash everywhere. Shacks line the streets and often serve as both housing and shops.

We visited a sand painting gallery and watched a demo. They use the glue from the sap of a baubo tree to paint the wood where the sand will go. Then sprinkle different kinds/colors of native sand on the glue. Naturally, we had to buy one to add to our collection of native art.

To see a short video of the process, click on Sandpainting Video.

Our next stop was at the Monument of the African Renaissance, a huge bronze statue on a hill of a man, woman and child representing the rebirth of Africa. Then on to a craft market. This consisted of a maze of small stalls down narrow, windy, dirty streets. The vendors were insistent that you come in to see their wares: "Will give you very good price". You are expected to bargain which Barb doesn't enjoy doing. She wanted to buy a nice cloth bag and our guide had said to give him the money and he would get the best price. We expected he would go with us, show him which one we wanted and he would buy it. Instead, we couldn't wait to go back to the bus so left without seeing him. When he got on the bus later, he came back and gave us a bag he had bought for us . Thankfully it was a nice one and Barb really appreciated her personal shopper.

Our last stop was another market. This one included produce, meats and fish. Not a pleasant place to be but interesting. We bought a beautiful beaded carved wooden mask.

We returned to the ship for lunch. Then attended a pre-dinner show put on by the National Ballet La Linguere. These were highly energetic dancers from Senegal in colorful costumes, accompanied by a band playing native instruments. Very entertaining.

To view more photos from Dakar, please go to Dakar Photo Gallery. To read about the next location visited, go to Banjul, Gambia.

Home Locations Visited Photos Map Contact Us