In late October, I flew out to Dakar to start a three-week trip in West Africa! The majority of this was through Wander Expeditions, but I tacked on a few days at the beginning so that I could explore Dakar before meeting up with everyone else in Banjul.
Because of the way that my flights were scheduled, the distance from the airport to the city, and the limited time I had, I ended up booking a private tour for the two days I had so that they could also handle my airport transfers. It was an amazing experience! I felt like I had a chance to see so much of the city and beyond, and my guide and I had some great conversations about Senegalese history, culture, and how Dakar fits into the broader West African landscape. I landed in the morning and we immediately headed out to Gorée Island.
Gorée Island is one of the most famous sites in Senegal. The history there is incredibly dark – it was one of the larger ports for the slave trade. I toured one of the homes that had been used for that and saw the Door of No Return, where countless people last touched African soil after being ripped from their homes and sold into slavery. It was very moving experience. I also appreciated getting African perspectives on this. I’ve learned about the Atlantic slave trade in US history, but that is primarily focused on what happened when enslaved people arrived in the United States and leading into the Civil War, the Civil Rights movements, etc. The exhibits at this museum spoke more about the capture, auctions, and harrowing journey across the ocean.
What makes it such a fascinating place is that despite that dark past, the modern day Gorée Island is charming. It’s chock full of colorful buildings and art galleries, and can absolutely hold its own with the types of islands I’ve been to off the coast of Croatia or Italy for a pleasant day trip. That dichotomy was unexpected.
The people at the gallery above are painting with sand! They’re using glue on their brushes to create the patterns and shapes, and then spreading the different colors of sand to make the pictures. If I wasn’t at the very beginning of the trip, I would have definitely wanted to buy one, but I thought these paintings would be too delicate to survive the itinerary ahead. We had lunch on Gorée Island as well, and walked around for a while. By the time we got back on our ferry to the mainland, I was starting to doze off. Whether that was from the heat or the jet lag was anyone’s guess, but my guide suggested I go back to the hotel, have a restful afternoon, and then we would start a little earlier the next day and get through everything else we had planned.
I definitely needed the rest. And it was a good call to push the city tour to the next morning when it was cooler, because we started with the African Renaissance Movement! I was super excited to see this, because I had listened to a podcast about it. 99% Invisible did a whole episode on how North Korea has helped fund and produce art for African nations in a very interesting diplomatic move. We headed up the stairs to the top, where I got to see the plaque honoring North Korea’s aid in creating it. From what my guide said, this was designed by a Senegalese architect and then North Korean sculptors helped to create it, then shipped back the pieces for assembly in Dakar.
We visited a few other sites across Dakar before heading north out of the city. Most notable was Pointe des Almadies, which is the westernmost point on mainland Africa! I always find it interesting to see how we mark those types of extremes – sometimes, like the Four Corners in the United States, people will say it’s boring, but it’s also so fun to me that we as a society took the time to both measure and celebrate these rare borders or geographical locations. Earlier this same year had been my very first visit to Africa, and I had been on the complete opposite side of the continent.
From Dakar, our next stop was Kayar, which is a fishing village. I loved this visit. First of all, I was clearly the only tourist. It wasn’t all that far from Dakar, but it was so far removed from the development and bustle of the city that it felt like being in another world.
We walked along the beach and watched the fishermen work. This wasn’t the only fishing village I went to on this trip, but it was my favorite because I was only with the one guide and I felt a little less intrusive than when I was with the big group. I could stay quiet and watch the rhythms of how they worked, the men pushing the ships out to sea or pulling them back in, with the men standing along the shore waiting to haul in the catch and the women working to get the fish ready to sell at the market. It looked like hard work.
The elaborately painted boats were also amazing to see up close. Kayar had so many, as far as the eye could see in both directions. After we had walked along the shore for a bit, we walked through the area where they were drying the fish, and by then the guide and I had gotten a bit lost from where the driver had parked so we walked through town to find a new place to meet up.
After lunch, we headed to Lake Retba, also known as Lac Rose. You may have seen gorgeous pictures of the pink water – those are outdated, as of fall 2022. There’s been flooding and it has diluted the algae and salt levels, so it mostly just looks like a normal lake now. Nonetheless, it was still nice to visit. We did a 4×4 tour along the coast, which was fun, and then a quick boat ride on the lake.
From there, it was back to the airport and onward to Banjul! A lot of the trip is still left to come, but reflecting after the full three weeks, I would still say that Dakar was one of my favorite destinations from this trip. It’s one of the top places I would recommend to people if they are interested in traveling to West Africa, especially if they are less familiar with the region. The development that I saw in progress makes me really excited for the future of Dakar as well. It was a great start to the trip!