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After an eventful day visiting the Saloum Delta in Senegal, we were still yearning to explore more than we had ever experienced in this beautiful African country.
Our friend and tour guide Mass gave us another option…one he had described to me in the past. A place that he said he wanted to take me to show me the contrasting beauty that existed in the northwest coast of the country.
It would be a long day…longer than the day spent visiting the Saloum Delta, but we were ready to tackle it for the adventures that lay in store.
Three and a half hours after our early departure, we woke from our napping to realize that we had turned onto a small, hilly road, leading to the Ecolodge de Lompoul. This lodge is situated in in the Lompoul Desert, a small desert with distinctive orange sands piled into high, extraordinarily shaped dunes. Located about 145 kilometers south of Saint-Louis, the country’s former capital, the area is stunningly beautiful and offers accommodations in the form of tented lodges. As we pulled into the Ecolodge’s perimeter, we noticed the row of tents to the left and the main tent containing the restaurant on the right side.
The main thing we saw, however, was the magnificent sand dunes that stretched out beyond the tents, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean!
While the lodge offers quad bikes to rent and ride throughout the desert (which would have been fun), we had opted to do a more traditional activity…riding camels!
We jumped onto our camels and headed out into the barren landscape. It was hot but a faint breeze, from the nearby ocean, cooled the air as we plodded on through the desert. It was quite beautiful and serene. While we wished that we would have had time to ride all the way to the water, it was still quite some distance. Instead, we concentrated on the shifting sands and even spotted a dung beetle!
With our ride over, we headed back to the camp to have a cool drink before hitting the road again. One thing we wanted to do before we left, however, was check out the accommodations. Peeking into the first tent, we discovered a pretty nice setup. There were beds on the left, protected with mosquito netting and the floor covered with a nice carpet. A couple of chairs and a table filled the remaining space. Behind the table, to the right, there was a dividing cloth and behind it, a basin and primitive shower and a toilet. While the tents have running water, they do not have electricity. They were extremely clean and we were impressed! Had we known the setup, we might have decided to come here the day before and spend the night!
Finally, we were on our way again, this time enroute to Saint-Louis or Ndar, as it is known to the locals. Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902. From 1920 until 1957, it served as the capital of the neighboring colony of Mauritania.
Driving into the city, we marveled at the colonial architecture and as we crossed the iron Faidherbe Bridge, which links the island of the city of Saint-Louis to the African mainland and we were excited to realize that we were getting ready to see life in the city. But first, lunch!
Lunch at Flamingo Restaurant was delicious and our appetites were filled with not only the grilled gambas, but with the outstanding view of the muddy Senegal River rushing under the Faidherbe bridge and the faint landscape of Mauritania in the distance. With our lunch complete, we walked outside and jumped into a horse drawn cart for the real treat! A tour of the island!
Riding through the streets, I remembered thinking of how much it reminded me of my trip to Cuba. Buildings were largely in disrepair, but I could still the beauty that once was.
Once an important economic center, it still has some important industries including fishing and tourism, mainly due to its status as a UNESCO world Heritage site. While sugar production plays an important part of their commerce, we could see how fishing is what is the most dominant.
As we crossed from the island of Saint-Louis onto the Langue de Barbarie Peninsula, this was where the role fishing plays in the community was most apparent. The village of Guet N’Dar was bustling with activity and colorful boats lined the river banks. Multihued clothing and fishing nets, attached to lines strung between buildings, fluttered in the sea breeze, while strings of bobbers littered the grounds. Near the end of the peninsula, trucks were lined readied for loading of the day’s catch.
Elsewhere, goats languished in the sun while older residents sought out shade from the afternoon’s heat. The children played in the streets, sometimes oblivious to our presence and at others captivated, running alongside our cart, yelling ”Toubab” (white people)!
As I sat on my perch, riding through the streets, I could not help but be mesmerized by its simplistic beauty but I also felt as though we were intruding on these people’s daily lives. True, they rely on tourism, yet you could feel their watchful eyes, wondering why we were truly there.
Eventually, we returned to Saint-Louis where we stopped for a moment to admire L’eglise Saint-Louis-en-I’lle, the 18th century Catholic Church which bears the distinction of being the oldest church in West Africa. The first foundation stone was laid on February 11, 1827 and was brought to fruition by Anne-Marie Javouhey, founder of the Order of Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny and Captain Roger Baron. The stone was blessed by the apostolic prefect Girardon father and opened to it faithful on November 4, 1828.
With so much to see and experience in Saint-Louis, I could have stayed for days soaking it all in, but alas, there was a long drive back to Dakar to think of.
Bidding our adieus, we took our tired, sweaty and camel-smelling bodies to the waiting van for our return trip. Indeed it was an amazing adventure, one that I will build upon on a future trip! A night in a desert tent will definitely be something in my future when I return, but as of this day, I will think back fondly of our trip to the north of Senegal to the vast desert, the former capital and its people.
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The Motherland Experience
- http://themotherlandexperiencetraveltours.com
- Telephone: +221 77 295 24 24
- Owner: Mass Kane
- Email: Kanemass@hotmail.com
Lompoul Eco-Lodge
Restaurant Le Flamingo
- https://www.hoteldelapostesaintlouis.com/le-flamingo/
- Hours: 1200 noon-0200
Once our entrance fee was paid, we were directed upstairs to the upper observation terrace. As we exited the doors onto the pavilion, luck would have it that a ship was passing through the locks!
After the final lock, the Atacama Queen sailed off under the Centennial Bridge and into Lake Miraflores for the next phase of its journey.
The Hall of Water: Source of Life highlights the importance of water, the conservation of the environment and biodiversity, protection of the Canal Watershed and the commitment to the sustainable management of resources.
Operation of the Canal is spotlighted in The Canal in Action. Here you can experience what it is like to guide a boat through a lock culvert in one of the navigation simulators. Canal improvement, modernization and maintenance projects are also the focus of this exhibit.
Information on the importance of the Canal to world trade is the center of the information presented in The Canal in the World. Descriptions of the trade routes served by the Canal and its main users, the vessels that transit the waterway and the commodities they carry and the future competitiveness of the Canal and how the Republic of Panama will benefit can be learned about here.
After our tour of the exhibition halls was complete, we stepped out on the two lower observation terraces for a more intimate look at the now-empty lock and the picturesque, white-washed building resting on the other side of the canal. On the second floor, we discovered stadium seating…seating I wish we had known about as the Atacama passed through earlier. Looking off into the distance, we scoured the horizon, hoping for another freighter or even a cruise ship.
