On Thursday 22nd May, six VSO volunteers and I travelled to Dakar, Senegal. Dakar is the capital and has a population of around 3 million, the total population of The Gambia is about 1.6million. As you know, Senegal surrounds 3 sides of The Gambia but I am unable to travel there without a Visa. After many visits to the Senegalese Embassy I was granted a one month visa. All my VSO friends are either UK, Netherlands, Irish, Scottish, American or Canadian and can enter Senegal anytime they wish without a Visa, so I needed to plan weeks ahead.
The journey there went without incident which was suprising, but the people who I was with had been there once before. We caught a shared taxi (a taxi shared with strangers) to Banjul, (capital of The Gambia) and waited in a huge queue to purchase our ferry ticket amongst pushing and squashing. We then had to run onto the ferry after the gates were open as we would have pushed to the ground by the crowds behind us. The ferry across the river Gambia took about 45 minutes. We then bartered for another cab, the usual scenario, cab driver asks for double the price, we disagree, we say the usual price, he disagrees,we walk away amongst shouts to get in. It happens so often, but I still hate going through the whole process each time to get a cab. The cab takes us to the border. Here we go through Gambian customs, which was fine, then Senegalise. I felt a bit nervous about this as the Senegalise speak French and I wasn't sure my Visa was going to be accepted because the date only lasted from 24th May, but all went smoothly. Amongst the ladies and kids trying to sell mangoes and cashew nuts, we jumped on a horse and cart for 2 km to reach transport to Dakar. I was told we would be hopping on a sep-place, a 7 seater vehicle.I had visions of this newish 4wd for our journey,I was dreaming. We arrived at the garage (like a taxi/geli rank) to literally 100 old beaten up small station wagons and gelis (vans). We were swarmed by people trying to communicate with us in French dragging us around to their beaten up car. We agreed on a price and off we went. Part of the back area of the station wagon was built with a raised seat for 3, all very cosy. The Senegalise have bitumen roads, I haven't been on a bitumen road for quite sometime, so the journey was quite smooth. The land was flat, dusty, minimal vegetation and the small villages with thatched roofs, just like The Gambia. As we approached the city, houses were made from cement , high rise flat blocks were scattered around and traffic became thick. I was brimming with excitement by the fact I was in another country – SENEGAL, it spoke French and local African dialect, currency is cfa's , 1000 cfa's equals to about $2.20 AUS and it was a city. Just purchasing drinks at the petrol station using cfa's and trying to communicate in French was a buzz. It took us about 5 hours in the car to reach Dakar. The driver dropped us off at another taxi area on the outskirts and we yet again bartered for our cab to our hotel. All up, the journey took about 9 hours.
The journey there went without incident which was suprising, but the people who I was with had been there once before. We caught a shared taxi (a taxi shared with strangers) to Banjul, (capital of The Gambia) and waited in a huge queue to purchase our ferry ticket amongst pushing and squashing. We then had to run onto the ferry after the gates were open as we would have pushed to the ground by the crowds behind us. The ferry across the river Gambia took about 45 minutes. We then bartered for another cab, the usual scenario, cab driver asks for double the price, we disagree, we say the usual price, he disagrees,we walk away amongst shouts to get in. It happens so often, but I still hate going through the whole process each time to get a cab. The cab takes us to the border. Here we go through Gambian customs, which was fine, then Senegalise. I felt a bit nervous about this as the Senegalise speak French and I wasn't sure my Visa was going to be accepted because the date only lasted from 24th May, but all went smoothly. Amongst the ladies and kids trying to sell mangoes and cashew nuts, we jumped on a horse and cart for 2 km to reach transport to Dakar. I was told we would be hopping on a sep-place, a 7 seater vehicle.I had visions of this newish 4wd for our journey,I was dreaming. We arrived at the garage (like a taxi/geli rank) to literally 100 old beaten up small station wagons and gelis (vans). We were swarmed by people trying to communicate with us in French dragging us around to their beaten up car. We agreed on a price and off we went. Part of the back area of the station wagon was built with a raised seat for 3, all very cosy. The Senegalise have bitumen roads, I haven't been on a bitumen road for quite sometime, so the journey was quite smooth. The land was flat, dusty, minimal vegetation and the small villages with thatched roofs, just like The Gambia. As we approached the city, houses were made from cement , high rise flat blocks were scattered around and traffic became thick. I was brimming with excitement by the fact I was in another country – SENEGAL, it spoke French and local African dialect, currency is cfa's , 1000 cfa's equals to about $2.20 AUS and it was a city. Just purchasing drinks at the petrol station using cfa's and trying to communicate in French was a buzz. It took us about 5 hours in the car to reach Dakar. The driver dropped us off at another taxi area on the outskirts and we yet again bartered for our cab to our hotel. All up, the journey took about 9 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment