Since our first trip to Senegal left such a strong impression on us, we decided to discover more of this country, this time heading north for 12 days over Easter in April 2004. We only stayed one night in Dakar, at the Hotel Al Afifa, in our opinion the best deal in town. Then we immediately headed for St. Louis, the old colonial center of the very first French administration, with a Taxi Brousse. There we treated ourselves to the Hotel Cap St. Louis, a very pleasant place and a heaven of quietness on the Langue de Barbarie for an absolutely acceptable price.

Besides from being lazy around the pool, we spent a lot of time discovering St. Louis in depth, partly a beautiful old colonial city, UNESCO World Heritage Site, partly a typical African modern city. Especially the Market on the “other side of the river” is remarkable, “vibrant and colorful”, as the Lonely Planet puts it. We also visited the Parc National des Oiseaux du Djoudj, with its amazing wildlife and many species of birds.

On the way back to Dakar, we hired a cab for the whole way and visited the Dunes de Loupoules, a Sahara-like landscape with sand dunes as far as you can see, and the Lac Rose, the saltiest lake in the world, apart from the the Dead Sea. We spent the last hours in Yoff in the north of Dakar, near the airport, an area much more pleasant than le Plateau downtown Dakar, no matter what all travel guides say.

Our first trip to Senegal was the very trip - at least for Gilles - that triggered his fever for traveling ...

We first spent a few days discovering Dakar, a vibrant African metropolis with a world known music scene. This was the hard way to start discovering the “Black Continent”. Immediately after leaving the airport anybody who seems to have the resources to buy the smallest item, becomes the target of all street vendors in town, and a polite “no thanks” will never make them go away. If the very one lets go of you after 15 minutes, the games starts with the next enterprising seller. Quite a nerve-racking game! Though, on another trip we stayed in Yoff, a part of the city located near the airport, and nobody ever bothered us.

We took then a Taxi Brousse and drove through Gambia to the Casamance in South Senegal, a two days trip on dusty roads in antique Peugeot 505 or even Peugeot 504 … After two days of relaxing in Ziguinchor, the capital of this province, a very quiet and beautiful old colonial city, we moved to the coast to Cap Skiring, stayed in a relatively basic but genuine “Campement” on one of the most beautiful beaches in Africa. From there we discovered the Casamance Delta, one of the greenest and most beautiful regions in West Africa.

After having been bumped out from our flight back to Dakar by Air Senegal International, we were actually stranded another 2 days in Dakar before flying back to Europe. This incident was more than exciting, since we had no money left and missed our flight from Dakar to Europe, but with the help of many friendly people we managed to reach Dakar and have our flight rebooked without charges.