April 21, 2024

Sorry for the delay in posting. As I mentioned before I got the ship’s crud that is going around and it really has a kick to it. The cough lasts forever and you always feel tired. In some ways good that we had such a long stretch at sea because a lot of people needed the recuperation time but now we have 10 port days in a row which will also be exhausting.

Anyway thanks for having patience and the trip is finally winding down. Also the weather has been getting cooler which is also very nice.

The boat did send everyone a link to download the pictures that they took of us when we were looking for the Null buoy that we never found.

Kathy and I are the 6th and 7th person from the left. Kathy is wearing a dark shirt and I am wearing an orange shirt.

We were excited to go to Dakar since it is a place we have never been before and Kathy recently read an article that listed it as an underrated place to visit so we were hopeful that it would be something special. We did not get to see the actual city of Dakar since we had chosen another reserve to see some more African animals but I am told that we did not miss much.

As we were disembarking the boat they were setting up a large market right on the pier. Knowing our ship mates a lot will just get off the boat and shop at the market on the pier and get right back on.

We had about a 70 minute bus ride to the reserve so we did get to see a lot of the country side and this is one poor country.

Views from the bus

Most of the buildings are unfinished with tin roofs.

They did have a very modern soccer stadium and also their highways were very nice with little traffic on them. About every 10 miles there was a toll booth that you had to stop for. Apparently they don’t have any electronic pass system. We saw lots of broken down cars on the highway. Also horse drawn carts were quite popular.

We arrived at the reserve and they had all different size 4×4 for you to go out in. They also put a guide in the back of the truck with you to point things out and tell you what you were seeing. The vehicles held anywhere from 9 to 24.

The reserve is 3500 hectares and most of the animals were extinct in Senegal and reintroduced into the reserve. They do put out food for the animals so it is a little staged but still nice to see animals that we don’t see unless we go to a zoo.

Last safari we got to see a baby zebra and this time we got to see a baby giraffe.

This baby giraffe is about 4 months old.

They had some natural watering holes around the reserve.

They also had lots of orange monkeys

Lots of babies

Cape Buffalo Wart hogs

More rhinos with the horn cut off and you can see how they feed them.

Lots of zebras

The one in front is an albino zebra since they have brown striped and brown mane

Pregnant Zebra Albino Zebra

You can see how brown the albino is

We drove around for about 2 hours and they gave you lots of time to take photos. The weather was cool but if in the direct sun it was warm.

Here we are in the safari truck

Several different birds. The one on the right everyone knew from the Lion King. It is a Horn Bill

We also had this beautiful bird but unsure what it is.

The other thing West Africa is known for is the Baobab tree and is native to the African continent. They can live up to 2000 years old and grow quite large. The locals say that the tree has lots of powers and can be used for food and medicine. They also bury there dead in the trunks of the larger trees.

Baobabs trees

One by a watering hole

They also had lots of antelope

A large iguana sunning Green monkeys

It was interesting to see all the animals grazing together.

They have no predators in Bandia reserve and also no elephants. Once the safari was over they took you to their dining area which was tight on the river and lots of crocodiles were there.

They had lots of crocodiles

We all had something to drink and then we loaded back up on the bus for the ride back to the boat.

One of the villages we passed

When we got back to the boat we went to see all the vendors at the outdoor market. They were selling hand woven baskets, carved animals of all sizes, masks and some African clothes. They pretty much all sold the same thing and they were not very aggressive. If you told them you were just looking and not ready to buy yet they left you alone. I ended up getting 2 small wooden baskets and 1 small carved hippo. I did a little bit of bargaining but the prices were already so reasonable you felt guilty asking for less.

My purchases with a Coke can for perspective.

The market on the dock. I can’t imagine picking all the stuff up and putting it away.

We asked a few people about the shuttle into town and not 1 person said we should go. They all said it was smelly and there was nothing there so we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on the ship.

When we sailed away we went by a UNESCO world heritage site called Goree Island which was very picturesque and several people that we know took a tour there. You have to take a ferry to get there. The island is famous for being the center of the African slave trade. It is estimated that 20 million Africans passed through the island between the 1500s and the 1800s. It was a slave holding warehouse for the millions of West Africans taken against their will. The old slave trading house is now a museum. Ironically the House of Slaves was built by the Dutch in 1776.

The fort on Gorge Island

The whole island is 45 acres

We only have 3 sea days left and 2 of them are after this port. Next stop is Tenerife on April 24th.