Disembarking from the Grande Brasile in Dakar on a hot Sunday afternoon, we are suddenly put back in control of our lives, after having -very willingly- let the ship's schedule take over for a couple of weeks. It also means that we're now in Africa, in unfamiliar surroundings, to which we'll have to adapt.
The first thing we have to learn is patience: Senegalese customs are closed on Sundays, we'll have to come back the next day. On Monday, customs are open, but their generator failed (power cuts are frequent in Dakar) and computers are out. Tuesday, it takes the Grimaldi agent a full day to collect an impressive amount of stamps on a large pile of papers, finally letting us leave the baking heat of the docks with Archie.
The next week we spent taking Archie to the local Land-Rover workshop for a tune-up, stocking up on supplies and collecting visas for the many countries on our route down to South-Africa. Obtaining them was not really a problem, the process takes only time (patience!) and a lot of money. After a few applications, you definitely know your passport details by heart!
In-between trips to embassies, we inserted a visit to Gorée Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site right outside Dakar. It boasts fortifications and one preserved "slave house" where slaves were gathered before being shipped off. The museum being closed during a substantial part of the day, we couldn't visit. Gorée Island needs some investment rather urgently, there is a limit to how much appeal the crumbling architecture of the past has with tourists.
The trip North to Saint-Louis-du-Sénégal was as much a test-drive as a real excursion: the former capital of French West-Africa preserves some colonial architecture on it's main island, but doesn't warrant more than a quick stroll through its calm streets. Our drive South on the Langue de Barbarie, through a bustling fishery village (featuring large stalls of drying fish, imagine the smell...), towards our campsite was more picturesque than the city itself.
With all our business in Dakar finished, we set off towards the border with Mali, on a completely new asphalt road via Kaolack and Tambacounda: European taxpayers' money at work! Let's hope it will be properly maintained. We stop under giant Baobab trees for lunch, and camp out in the wild, completely undisturbed (except by some very determined mosquitoes).
Mali greets us at a very chaotic border post, where again patience is required. Friendly police and customs officials, once they're back from the mosque, process the paperwork in about two hour's time. Like Senegal, Mali is green along most of our way: the vegetation reacts very fast to the frequent rain showers during this season and conveys a surprising image of plenty that clashes with stereotypes about starving Africa.
After a couple of days' rest outside Mali's capital Bamako, we'll head towards Mopti and the Dogon country - I'll tell you about that in due time!
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