The World As I See it

 On virtually every street corner you can find an assortment of cheaply made goods aimed at tourists - fridge magnets, shell keychains, bracelets and items that the vendors "made themselves" that are exactly like the ones at the next corner or market stall. I don't begrudge these folks trying to make a living, but I wanted to bring home something from artists and makers that I connected with, or from shops where the stories behind the products are compelling. My daughter introduced me to Minibap where rugs, toys and more are made by local women and sold at a fair price to support the makers. The woven cloth bag and basket that I purchased had tags with the names of the women who created them, alongside a note about the fabric used.  She also took me to Green Wave , a woman-owned and woman-designed jewellery shop in the Almadies (conveniently located beside a Minibap) where I browsed a variety of hand-crafted silver jewellery.   Last week, we visited the home-based shop o...

The Africa Cup of Nations was underway before I arrived in Senegal, and this nation's support of its football team was visible everywhere. Giant ads for Babybel gouda featured an athlete with the brand's well-known cow - who was wearing the team's hat along with her earrings. Hawkers were selling jerseys on what felt like every street corner. And on game days, you always knew when Senegal had scored a goal - the city erupted in a cacophony of honking car horns, cheering and blasting vuvuzelas. Following the quarter and semifinals, we enjoyed watching the neighbourhood celebrate from our balcony. When the time came for Senegal to take on Morocco in the cup final, we knew we wanted to be out in the city among the fans. A group of us booked a table at a local restaurant, and we decked ourselves out in team colours and made our way across town. We had made a good call to plan in advance - paying 10.000 Central African Francs each to reserve seats that came with one free drink. ...

 Another early breakfast at 7 a.m., bags packed, so we could hit the road early. It's game day, and no one in this car wants to miss the match, especially our Senegalese guide and chauffeur! But the sunrise had gilded Saint Louis in gorgeous light that we just had to capture with our cameras. A short distance from Saint Louis, our driver stopped again so that we could admire a group of golden monkeys gathered outside a community building. Some of them approached the car cautiously as they sometimes receive treats from passing vehicles. I didn't have anything appropriate for them to eat, but enjoyed snapping some photos. (Only my phone was handy, so they aren't as sharp as I'd like. In the second photo you can just see the arms of a baby held agains its mama's chest, holding tight. We took a different route to head back to Dakar so that we could stop at Lac Rose (the Pink Lake), with the benefit of enjoying different landscapes. This area is the "garden of Seneg...

 Travelling with Seydou Diallo from  Senegal Expeditions , we arranged a visit to the Parc National des Oiseaux du Djoudj - something I had been looking forward to for months. Knowing my keen interest, Seydou had arranged for another guide with an excellent knowledge of birds and the park to travel with us. After a quick 7 a.m. breakfast we drove into Saint Louis to meet him. The sun was still low in the sky as we rolled through the city and neighbouring villages, passing a nomad with his herd of cattle, then travelled along a long series of dirt roads. I rarely spotted a sign, but the guide seemed to know when to veer onto a different track to reach our destination. We passed some small bodies of water where we started to see smaller birds like Pied Kingfisher, African Collared Doves and Lesser Egrets, African Collared Doves and Black-Winged Stilts, and then salt flats where white crusts had formed as the water evaporated. Arriving at the park, we spotted a warthog, running, ...