senegal

Senegal

Sunday 2nd December 2007:

We got into Duzi2, watched the sun set and drove over the bridge to Senegal only to be met by a boom and a man saying we needed to pay €10 toll for the vehicle. We refused until he showed us his book of receipts from everyone who'd paid today. We paid this and then needed to go to the Police at the Senegal border to get our passports stamped (we didn't need visas). He also asked for €10 each passport due to it being late. Are you seeing the €10 pattern? We were now MAD as €10 doesn't sound a lot to them, but after the 6th time it starts to mount up and we unfortunately are NOT walking Euro notes, as others might be. Neither the Rough Guide to West Africa nor the Lonely Planet Africa, mention these fees and it's hard to know who's genuine and who's not. Ross explained we're South Africans and have a LONG way to go to get home and don't have enough money to pay everyone €10! He then reduced our fee to €5 each, which we still refused as Diamma is supposedly open 24 hours and apparently has no additional night charge. He eventually let us off paying and Ross headed to the last hut to get our carnet stamped. Ross had a long friendly chat to the Customs/Douane man and explained our story again, and they also eventually stamped the carnet without asking for a fee.

The mosquitoes were unbelievable! They were huge and swarmed around inside and outside the car like flies. You could hear them crawling around in the car and we were both pretty well munched. Thank goodness we're on our Malaria tablets, but the Tabbard sticks didn't seem to deter at all!

We headed off to Saint Louis, 30km away, in the dark and were stopped 3 times and asked for our insurance, passports, 2 triangles and fire extinguiser. Only then did we realise our insurance wasn't valid for the month we'd paid for, but only for 15 days! What a cheek and a rip off!

We arrived in Saint Louis and pulled over at a Total fuel station to ask for directions to Camping Ocean, where we were meeting Claudio and Laura. A very helpful young guy on a motor bike said he knew exactly where that was as his sister worked there. He would drive us there, if we waited for him to drop something off first. We did, and followed him into the beautiful campsite right on the beach. Claudio and Laura came over to say hello and asked about our days experiences. They'd been stopped and asked for 'cadeau' and Euros too.

Two unifomed men demanded that they pay park fees and give them their camping chairs for their houses! They refused and had to set up their chairs and table and pretend to get ready to camp for the night, before they were let off, half an hour later. They had also been shown the way to the campsite by 'our friend' and had only arrived about 45minutes before us, even though they left about 3 hours before us this morning.

Ross was quite keen to find out about their insurance. They'd bought a 4 month Carte Brun, covering most of West Africa, on the Senegal side of the border for €85. We also met a South African biker who'd done the same. Our very helpful 'friend' was ranting and raving and even started crying at how we'd been so ripped off. He said his father was a colonel in the police and he'd go back to Diama and sort this out for us and return at 11pm. Claudio and Laura invited us to join them for a traditional Italian rice and Balsamic vinegar dinner.

This was absolutely delicious and so easy. Claudio explained the lengthy 15 year process of how real balsamic vinegar is made in his hometown of Modena. Real balsamic vinegar is thick and very expensive and only a little is used to give taste, unlike the very runny balsamic vinegar we know, which is used in salads. He told us that each family in Modena starts to make a a casket of balsamic vinegar when their sons are born so that when their sons are about 25years old, they are old enough to use it and continue caring for the remaining vinegar. We also enjoyed some real Italian panchetta, which they'd brought with them and some of Laura's mom's yummy, spicy vegetable sauce.

As we were eating around the table, the campsite's mommy dog with her three cute pups made themselves at home all around us in the sand. Then the big crabs started scurrying around towards the sea and probably looking for food too. It's so wonderful to be able to walk around bare foot in the fine beach sand. But while the crabs are out it's best to have slops on, especially as there are so many crabs.

Sure enough at about 11pm, 'our friend' arrived back with a breakdown of how much more a 4 month Carte Brun would cost us. Ross had already given him €55, which he'd said together with the insurance we'd just bought at the border, could be exchanged for what we wanted. Now he came up with a stupid figure of needing €107 more. Ross told him to forget it and that we wanted our money back and we'd talk about it in the morning, once we could find out how much Claudio and Laura had paid.

Monday 3rd December 2007: Camping Ocean, Senegal

GPS Info: N15°59'50.2" W16°30'39.2"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 6377

We didn't sleep that well last night due to the constant whine and stinging itch of the mosquitoes, despite being covered in Tabbard, the loud, constant flapping of the fly-sheet due to the strong wind and then we were woken properly by the call of the mullah, a little further up the beach. Wow such an amazing view. We looked right onto the sea about 100metres away. We were met by the three very excited puppies keen to have two new playmates to tackle and play with while everyone else was still asleep.We had a cold refreshing shower and decided to just chill out on the beach today.

'Our friend' appeared while we were having something to drink and said the insurance man would be at the campsite at 10am to bring back our money. Ross wasn't keen to leave until this was sorted out. The Dutch couple, the Italian's and the South African's all with our landy's and our roof top tents, enjoyed the sunshine and the beach. Camping Ocean campsite is such a beautiful spot and you can't help but relax here.

At about 2pm we spoke to 'our friend's sister' and asked her to keep our money if he returned. She couldn't understand our story, but agreed to keep it for us. We walked into the town, on the second island to change money and to find AXA Insurance to get offical information.

Saint Louis is made up of three sections; the mainland; a second island surrounded by the Senegal River with hotels and shops; and a third island, where we're staying, which has the Senegal River on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. You cross over from the mainland and between each island by bridges. We walked in passed the fish markets and passed the very littered river shore. This was an interesting experience to see how they live and work, but rather unpleasant for the smell sense, and something we could only walk through once. There are big, brightly painted fishing boats everywhere, fish being smoked and dried, goats lying around and many people and children. The children were rolling wire wheel frames with hooked wire sticks along the road. Some were practising carrying things on their head with the starter ring, like in the story of Handa's Surprise, a favourite at The Children's House. Some of the children were laughing and others were crying, but mostly everyone was very friendly and cheerful.

The second island had a totally different feel. There were horse drawn carriages, bigger buildings, touristy shops and more hassly people. We found a bank to change money and the AXA Insurance building. We found out that the insurance we had was in fact invalid without a page which we hadn't been given and that we had been totally over charged, which we had suspected. A hard lesson we've now learnt. We dealt with an amazingly friendly and helpful man, Babacar, who had a very gentle face. We bought our new Carte Brun for 4 months for €62 from AXA Insurance, and this will last us for all the countries ahead until Cabinda (Angola). A Carte Brun covers: Benin, Burkino Faso, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee Conakry, Guinee Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. What a relief and hopefully no more border insurance scams!

We caught a taxi back to the campsite only to find 'our friend' was still not back. Funny how yesterday he was so quick getting to Diamma and back and today has been there supposedly ALL day. We both had a very horrible feeling we'd been done!

We ejoyed the afternoon on the beach and swam in the sea. The water wasn't too cold once you got used to it and the waves were wonderful. We're both feeling like we're on holiday now. We chatted to Orrin, the South African biker, a really nice guy from Durban who matriculated from Glenwood the same year as Heidz. We had dinner and he joined us afterwards for coffee as he told us some of the interesting things that have happened to him in all his travels, including sailing across from South Africa to Australia. We swopped information on routes, roads, GPS and campsites and then headed off to a late nights sleep. We burned a mozzi coil in the tent tonight so hopefully wont have mozzies to bug us.

Tuesday 4th December 2007: Camping Ocean, Senegal

GPS Info: N15°59'50.2" W16°30'39.2"

Miles Today: 17 Total Miles: 6394

Today was a day of miracles and that's only due to us serving a BIG God and due to all the prayers of our friends and families. What could have been a rather upsetting day ended up the complete opposite. As Ross said, "It's only when in extreme circumstances that you see the extreme good in people." Today we met true Senegalese people and what a priviledge this was.

We woke up after a night with no mossies and less flapping because we never put the fly sheet's front and back flaps up. Bought some delicious, fresh French bread for breakfast and planned our route from Saint Louis towards Mali. There are two routes we considered, one driving back along the Senegalese border alongside the Senegal River to cross at Kidira / Diboli or the other to skirt around Dakar and travel to Parc Du Niokolo-Koba for the night, and then to still cross at Kidira / Dibola. The first option, looks less distance and meant we might be able to see more birds and maybe even a Nile croc or two, but it also meant bush camping near the river with the swarms of mozzies we'd experienced at the border. The second option, looks slightly longer, but meant we would be able to pop into the National Park, the biggest in West Africa, hopefully see some game and bush camp in the Park.

We went to enquire with 'our friend's sister' as to his whereabouts and to tell her we were now off to the police, something we'd told her last night. At last she got what we were on about and told us that he was not her brother and she'd never seen him before. Her brother had been here at the same times as him, so that's where the confusion had set in. All the camping staff were so angry and shocked that we'd been done. They were SO helpful and all wanted to get him. Ross and one of the men, Salom, went to the police station in northern Saint Louis to report it. They came back for the patron of the campsite, Francois, to write up a statement in French of exactly what had happened and then went back to the police station. On the way back to the campsite Ross dropped Salom off at his house, which was right where 'our friends' father lived. He was so angry, we knew if he found 'our friend' African justice would be done. Just before crossing the bridge to the third island Ross was stopped by 'our friend' who was on his moped and keen to go with Ross to Diamma to sort out our 'assurance'. Ross' first instinct was to flatten the guy, but realised that he was surrounded by other locals who could turn on him. He then played along and said he would meet him at the local Hotel Le Poste where he could park his moped before getting in the car. Ross went into the hotel and called the police who came immediately, but 'our friend' had vanished! There were plain clothed policemen searching everywhere and people realised something was up, and most staff at the hotel now knew what was going on.

Ross came back to the campsite only to be told the police wanted him back at the hotel so the two of us went together. The hotel staff were all very concerned and so accomodating to us. They were also constantly looking for signs of 'our friend'. We waited there for a while and enjoyed a welcomed cold Coke, while Claudio and Laura and their work collegues arrived all dressed in their work gear. They are staying on for a few more days in a hotel for Claudio to photograph 'The Marathon Afrique.com', his job. They will also keep an eye out for 'our friend' as they know him too.

While we were drinking, 'our friend' sped past on his moped. We had now been waiting for about 45minutes and decided to rather go back to the police station. It's amazing how police stations all around the world are the same- empty and plain. We both agreed we'd never want to end up in jail here as there's zero sympathy shown. We waited to speak to the English speaking Chief of Police who heard our story, took a description of 'our friend' and introduced us to his undercover detectives, who were brilliant. Ross had already met them earlier at the hotel. They said they'd got a statement from a hotel staff lady who recognised him, and they thought they knew him, one detective knowing him well, but they didn't know where he lived. They refered to him as Baye, we didn't know his name.

With this all done, we went back to the campsite to set up for another night and were told by the lady there 'our friend' had been back to return our money, and he may come back later, 'enshala'. We'd written the money off as a lesson for us to learn from and not to be so trusting, as this was a stupid thing to have fallen for in the first place, and enjoyed sundowners on Duzi2's roof over looking the sea, with a shandy and pistachio's. It was such a beautiful afternoon and a perfect spot for our first rooftop sundowners.

We made a very easy dinner, with the dog family stationed all around us. The pups were all lying on top of each other to keep warm. At about 7.45pm, out of the darkness appeared 'our friend'. He had all our money back for us and tried to wangle his way out of the numerous lies he'd told, only telling more in front of the campsite lady, his supposed 'sister'. He wanted us to clear him with the police, who we'll inform tomorrow when we leave. This was a miracle and something we NEVER expected. We couldn't believe our eyes. We hope and pray that 'our friend' realises the wrongs of his ways and changes to let the good in him shine out rather than the bad. Ross tried to encourage him to use his time and efforts with good people rather than get mixed up with the same bad lot. He must have reacted out of fear when he saw the police, but hopefully this will make him change.

Praise God for His goodness and His protection over us! Wow, such an amazing day and such amazing people.

Wednesday 5th December 2007: Camping Ocean, Senegal

GPS Info: N15°59'50.2" W16°30'39.2"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 6394

We had a lazy start to our day today and had initially decided to head south towards the Niokolo-Koba national park. We managed to sit in the sun this morning to the sound of kites calling in the sky above us, and surrounded by our adopted puppies.

Ross' helper Salom, from the campsite, was working nearby this morning singing to himself, so Ross charged up the ipod and started playing music from Youssan D'our who is an internationally acclaimed singer from Senegal, through Duzi2's speakers. Salom was so chuffed he came and stood next to Ross singing the song "7 seconds" word for word in Wolof at the top of his voice. It was a memorable moment that gave Ross goosebumps. He continued to sing the song "Immigres" too while watering the little hedge nearby. Shortly after this he left the campsite, but knowing we were intending to leave today, he ran over to say goodbye to us with a hug and a handshake.

However, Francois, the patron of the campsite, drove over to us later in the morning to say that the Police wanted Ross at the station to finalise matters. On arriving the "friend", who now has a name of Baye Bada, was already at the station. Ross signed a letter to say that he had received his money back from Baye and the Chief of Police then gave Baye a real roasting in the local language, Wolof. The words were strange, but the meaning was clear. The guy was shaking afterwards.

After all of this, it had obviously delayed us leaving yet again, as we wouldn't have time to reach our next place we wanted to spend the night at, before late afternoon or nightfall, and we had already pushed our luck as far as driving at night in Africa is concerned. Even if this is largely due to refusing to budge on bribing issues at border posts and police stops. We therefore have decided to stay yet another night here in Saint Louis.

Oh well, who needs an excuse to stay in such a beautiful place. We spend a while today chatting to some of the staff at the campsite and even showed them parts of "The Gods Must Be Crazy" on the laptop, but with the language barrier confusing things they thought it was a documentary on the Bushmen, even after the coke bottle episode. They didn't seem to find it that amusing. We tried to buy fresh / any bread for lunch at midday only to be told you need to buy your bread for the day in the morning when it's fresh and again after 6pm in the evening. The Senegalese eat fish and rice for lunch and fresh baguettes for breakfast and dinner. So instead we enjoyed delicious chicken sandwiches at the bar for lunch.

We went to have a lovely dinner at the restaurant / hotel next door to the campsite. We tried chilled Baobab juice, which was interesting not to say we'd rush to have it again. The waitress told us it's very good to stop diarreah, hopefully we wont need to test this.The juice is made from the fruit of the Baobab trees that grow towards Tambacounda, where we're heading tomorrow. We planned an early night tonight so we can have an early start tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Daan. We hope you've had a really special day in Australia enjoying doing and seeing different things on your birthday.

Thursday 6th December 2007: Camping Ocean, Senegal

GPS Info: N15°59'50.2" W16°30'39.2"

Miles Today: 260 Total Miles: 6654

We said sad good-byes to our adopted puppy family and the lovely camp staff at the campsite before setting off on a long drive towards Parc National Du Niokolo-Koba. The heat has certainly been switched on and we've left the cold far behind us now!

We saw our first Baobab at 10.30am near Louga and got very excited as this is a symbol of the Africa we both know. We followed T4A's route from St Louis via Louga to Koki, Touba, Mbar until we joined the N1 at Kaffrine. We passed through many little round, thatched rondavel hutted villages / settlements, with their large, white long-horned cattle herds, big white goat herds and numerous donkey driven carts. We passed lots of cotton fields and watermelon fields. Most of these little towns don't even feature on any of the maps.

The main road to Louga and all the secondary roads to Kaffrine were good tar roads so the prospect of reaching the Parc looked promising. This all rapidly changed when we joined the main road (N1) from Dakar (Senegal) to Diboli (Mali) when our speed dropped down to between 20km/hr and a short time high of 40km/hr. The road is tarred, but VERY badly pot holed with sharp tar exposed. Duzi2 jumped from one small patch of tar through huge holes to the next tiny tar patch. There were trucks broken down all along the road and engine parts and tyre bits scattered everywhere! The donkey carts obviously can't cope with the shockingly bumpy road surface, so have made their own sand tracks which run parallel with the road, which we used quite a lot as we were both very worried about Duzi2's axles and the tyres, of course. This is by far the worst road either of us had ever driven on. We both wonder if the northern road via Rosso following the Senegal River, skipping out the Parc, would've maybe been better, who knows...

We have been spoilt to see some new birdlife on our drive. We saw two Southern ground hornbills, many African hornbills, Lilac-breasted rollers (your favourite aunty Gail), bald vultures, long tailed green starlings, common green starlings, red winged starlings and brown eagles.

With sunset fast approaching and us being miles away from the Parc, we pulled off the horrible road and parked in the scrub, a very well hidden spot for our bush camp. We were both worn out and weary so had a quick dinner using the last of our French bread from this morning, before heading to bed. We had parked next to the railway line and watched a cargo train go past just before getting into the tent.

Friday 7th December 2007: Bush Camp near Koumpentoum, Senegal

GPS Info: N13° 58' 38.5" W14° 27' 46.2"

Miles Today: 181 Total Miles: 6835

We must have been parked next to a very bad section of the road as it was where all the truckers had to brake and change gear, but we had no visitors and no more trains so slept fairly well. We were up early to try and get to the Parc and off this horrible road as soon as we could, before it became too busy with trucks. We passed more broken down trucks, engine and body work parts and endless bits of tyre. The truckers break down branches and twigs to make warning piles before and after their broken down truck. We first noticed these close to the Parc and got excited thinking it was elephants, but then realised sadly it wasn't.

Luckily the road improved to fairly good tar from Tambacounda. Entering Tambacounda (Tamba) was like driving through a vehicle/truck graveyard with metal and tyres and wrecked vehicle bodies everywhere. We noticed how inventive the Tamba locals have become making bags and water holding bucket-like things out of tyre tubes. Very clever. We filled up with fuel and stocked up on water and colddrink supplies before setting off for Niokola-Koba.

We drove to the Dar Salam entrance to the Parc and were met by a big group of 'cadeaux' shouting kids. It looked pretty deserted so we went into the little green round hut. We gave our details explaining that we had no space (or desire) for a guide. The entrance for the Parc is CFA 2000 per person per day, CFA 5000 for the car, CFA 2000 per night to camp and a guide is CFA 6000. After being ready to pay and enter we were suddenly, very aggressively told a guide is "obligitory"! We tried to argue this explaining we had told them from the start that we had no space and it's not safe to have a guide on the roof (and not much use, and something we didn't want). They only got more aggressive demanding we pay for the paper that now had our name on it! We still refused and left without paying anything feeling very disappointed and annoyed that both our guide books (most recent additions) only mentioned a guide as optional! We decided to drive on along the national road passing through the park and try to enter through another gate.

A little further along the main tarred road we were stopped by a very friendly well spoken game warden who explained to us that the chief has recently made it compulsory for every car in the Parc to have a guide. Great to know this wasn't just a scam and that it's the chief's way of getting the Parc's tourism to benefit the local community, but needs to be included in the guide books because this may have made us rethink this extra trip down. The warden explained we could drive on the main road through the parc and look for animals, but if we wanted to enter the parc to stay, we would need to go back to Dar Salam and get a guide etc.

We set off slowly on our own drive towards Mako hoping to see some game like the parc's famous roan antelope or elephants, seeing as we were driving through the 'elephant corridor' or even to catch a glimpse of Africa's most northern troop of chimps. Instead we only saw warthogs, some bigger red vervet-like monkeys and lots of birds.We stopped to take photos of the beautiful Lilac-breasted rollers, common green and long-tailed green starlings and were even lucky enough to capture a photo of a kite on the road eating insects as they came out of seed pods from a fire nearby.

After a long and seemingly pointless days drive without being able to get into Niokola-Koba, we decided to find a place to camp in Mako. Wow! We found such a stunning and truly amazing spot, Africa Safari - Encampment du Mako (N12° 49' 17.5" W12° 18' 08.4"). It was so tranquil and perfect paradise right on the bank of the huge Gambia River. We followed the sign boards and drove through the very posh looking entrance and road to get to this haven. We were met by an extremely welcoming and accomodating French couple, Jean and Evelyne. We were given a hut, called Hippo, to shower and use for our ablutions and then given a tour of the place. We were only charged CFA 3500 to stay per night with an additional CFA 1000 each to use the pool, if we wanted. We were so amazed to find such a lovely place and know God was smiling down on us when we were trying to figure out where to stay earlier on in the day, knowing He had this gem ready for us this evening.

We watched the sunset and made a ham sauce and pasta dinner and quickly learnt to cover up because of mozzies. We had amazing showers and went to sleep with the mozzie coil burning again and to the sound of hippos in the distance.

Saturday 8th December 2007: Africa Safari - Encampment de Mako, Senegal

GPS Info: N12° 49' 17.5" W12° 18' 08.4"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 6835

What a treat to wake up to the sound of birds all around us. It sounded like we were in a bird park. Ross made his coffee and set off to watch the baboon family across the river with our new Luger binoculars, thanks to Mark and SafariGear's sponsorship. We could hear them across the river last night when we arrived. This was a huge baboon family of about 50 with lots of babies, which we could hear were being taught some lessons. We both just sat relaxing enjoying and taking in the beautiful views. You'd love it here Mom and Paps, it's even more beautiful than Montuli. The river is wide and deep and a greeny/blue colour.

We spent the day doing odd bits and pieces, and soon found out how valuable shade is because the sun is REALLY hot! We spent time chatting, in broken French/English, to Jean about the area and the Parc Niokola-Koba. He takes guests on tours and hunts in the 65 hectare area around the park. Neither of us were happy to hear this, but it is a valuable source of tourism revenue for the area. He was telling us poaching is a huge problem and because of this, there are very few animals left in the park, a WHS (World Heritgage Site). He told us that there are no elephants, rhino, roan or giraffe left. Sometimes you see hippo, but mostly you'll see waterbuck, warthog, baboons, red and green monkeys and vervets. We were both shocked to hear this, but also relieved that we hadn't gone in because our expectation would've been far too high for the biggest National Parc in West Africa. We went for a walk along the promonade (bush path) along the river to see if we could see the hippos, but only ran into a baboon family instead.

We made a fire and our first very successful loaf of bread in our bread oven. At least we're learning how to use it, and practice makes perfect. We also had a yummy veggie caserole which was so easy to make before going to the bar to have a shandy and enjoy the evening sounds over the river.

Off to bed with another mozzie coil burning so hopefully our very red and itchy bites won't increase.

Sunday 9th December 2007: Africa Safari - Encampment de Mako, Senegal

GPS Info: N12° 49' 17.5" W12° 18' 08.4"

Miles Today: 272 Total Miles: 7107

We were woken up in the very early hours of the morning with baboons barking and screeching in the trees all around us. They weren't happy about something. We heard a rougher, scraping sound, like a leopard, but will never know if there was one there or not. We both felt a bit sad leaving this beautifully tranquil spot, but are so glad we found it. We would highly recommend a stop over here to anyone coming after us. It's such value for money and truly amazing. Their website address is: www.africa-safari-fr.com and email address is campmako@arc.sn.

We set off quite early and it was very hot so most of the policemen or wardens were not at their stations or were too hot to get up so waved and smiled us through. On Friday at the gate at Dar Salam, we'd met a French campervan who'd come down from Rosso via Tambacounda and told us the road was very good, and they were right, so we enjoyed good tar the whole way to Kidera and Dioboli. Duzi2 was very pleased. We passed forests of Baobabs and bright pink bushes of Impala lillies, Heidi thinks. The flowers looked like the plants they sell in Kruger with no leaves, just bright pink and light pink flowers. They are beautiful and add the most amazing bright pink colour in amongst the landscapes of different shades of gold and brown.

Today's border crossing was the easiest we could possibly ever have. We arrived at Kidera, parked at the shelter on the lefthand side of the road and the policeman very happily stamped our passports in 2 minutes, so we could leave Senegal. He told us to drive on about 1km to the Douane (Customs) on our left and Ross went in to have our carnet stamped, no problem. We were then allowed through the barrier out of Senegal's frontier and into Mali.