Ask Hitto about Senegal

[Hitto]

Title says all.

I spent last month in a small fisherman's village in Sénégal, and I'm not a flickr kinda guy, so pics will probably be posted when asked for. So if you're interested about everyday life, african culture, or have any kind of wacky and hopefully non-racist questions, shoot away!

If you've been to Africa, feel free to drop a line and share your experiences!

Here are a few general answers about Africa :

- No, they don't starve. In fact, they eat much better than we westerners do.
- Yes, they are poor and their governments are corrupt to the bone.
- Yes, they are a fantastically nice and hospitable people.
- Yes, it is considered very rude to hold your girlfriend's hand in the streets.
- Yes, most of their technology is the stuff we send them once it's too old to pass our safety regulations.
- Yes, they do have internet! And electricity! (although power shortages are frequent)

Come on, shatter your beliefs and preconceived notions! I'm not FOX TV, you can trust me

 

[lagman]

Did you see many animals?
Was the weather insanely hot?
What was the most beautiful natural thing you saw there?

Please post any related picture.

 

[nintendofreak]

What do they drive over there?
Video games?

 

[Jax]

I heard they just got the new Commodore64!

 

[Hitto]

- In the streets, you can see sheep, chicks and goats run about the town, unattended. Horses and Zebu (cows) are still common as well. Sheep tanning on the beach for example :

Eww, gross! They'll eat anything, anywhere, and the folks don't seem to mind.

We did visit a reservation in St-Louis, near Mauritany, though, where the migratory birds rest on their way to South Africa.

You can see a few pelicans in the streets, too.

And this majestuous creature is their pigeon :

Couldn't catch one as it swooped down and picked up kittens, but that was a real fun show.
Alas, I didn't have enough time to visit a a real reservation with lions and elephants and such.

- Not insanely hot, but close. You get used to it pretty fast. Right now, it must be insane because it's the rain season (they only have two seasons over there, dry season and rainy season), so expect hot+humid+REALLY HOT. To counter that, tea is the way to go. In any muslim or african country anyway, it's considered wise to accept "Attaya" from strangers. Also, the Senegalese people's wisemen have invented a sauna on wheels which can support thirty people, they call it "public transportation"! My advice : don't be cheap and NEVER RIDE a taxi-brousse unless you have a gallon of water for each person.


- Hmm. Nature is still pretty much unviolated over there, so there are gonna be loads of huge, empty beaches, virgin savannahs, and centuries-old Baobabs. It's hard to pick one, but here's a pic I took from the westernmost point of Africa, with black volcanic rocks :

The Baobab have their subtle ways to remind you of your insignificant size and importance :


- They drive cars just like you and me. Very few NEW (as in "younger than 40 years") cars, mind you. It's not rare to see them drive carriages :


- As far as I know, they have the Wii, but it's as rare as in any other market. I only saw one. For retro gamers, it's a paradise, since Africa throws NOTHING away. I hadn't seen so many SNES's since 1996.

Keep shooting, kids!

 

[pikirika]

Wonderful pics!
My favorites are the huge Baobab and the Pelican roaming the streets, pretty smart eh!. I wonder if it's the same pigeon that we have here in Europe?
I´m pretty sure it´s a good spot for fishing

 

[Mangofett]

Have you been in the "New York" of Africa? I forgot the name.

 

[4ppleseed]

Africa is great. I spent a few months travelling along the south coast of S Africa. Meeting all the people and DJing in some of the clubs in Cape Town and Durban. Was awesome.

 

[T!b0]

hey I went there last Xmas

One of the most beautiful trip of my life!!!


Went there with my parents, but there getting kind of old so we went to one of those Tourist hotel (Domaine de Nianing).

I always felt miserable when we came back each day to that ridiculously luxurious hotel compared to the rest of the country,
but the guys there told me that there was a place up north on the coast were it was like a whole town but only made of hotels for tourists

What bugged me was the attitude of people living in big towns / known touristic places, always more demanding cause it's obvious that on the mass of tourists passing each day they can get something from a few... Fortunately that's limited to a very few places I guess!
The contrast with people living in small villages was astonishing, they were so nice!



Anyway, beautiful country!
Might go back with my girlfriend one day... when I can afford to

 

[[M]artin]

- Is there a huge language barrier or do the majority of locals speak English?

- Did you get your game on or talk gaming with any of the locals?

 

[Jax]

artin @ Aug 13 2007, 04:16 PM)]- Is there a huge language barrier or do the majority of locals speak English?

- Did you get your game on or talk gaming with any of the locals?

Um, they speak french in Senegal..

 

[[M]artin]

Um, they speak french in Senegal..

 

[Hitto]

- I am French, and Senegal's administrative language is French. Wolof, the traditional language, is pretty easy to pick up; Most of the people there speak english almost as well as Akon does (flawless accent, really)

- I kicked ass in Mario Kart DS. I know. Unfair. We played mostly DS; But we mostly played card games, or games that don't require too much energy in case of a power shortage. Also, there were greater things to do than play vidya gaemz; Fishing, grocery shopping, outdoor sports, etc.

@T!b0 : Yes, Dakar and St-Louis for example are full of "sai-sai"! We must have spent only three days in cities before we got fed up with the pollution and "poverty".

 

[Glacius0]

Hey Hitto. Just wanted to say thanks for the topic. Even though I probably won't go to Africa, it's still nice to hear about it in a non-commercial way where they just praise everything.

 

[[M]artin]

- I kicked ass in Mario Kart DS. I know. Unfair. We played mostly DS;...

Did you bring the concept of "Snaking" with you?

I can just imagine Hitto training up an army of MKDS snakers in Africa...

 

[Hitto]

artin @ Aug 13 2007, 04:53 PM)]

- I kicked ass in Mario Kart DS. I know. Unfair. We played mostly DS;...

Did you bring the concept of "Snaking" with you?

I can just imagine Hitto training up an army of MKDS snakers in Africa...

Muhaha, that's a scary thought, ennit? Don't worry, though; They were not hardcore at all, and it wouldn't have been any fun to snake against them. Mama Africa is too pure to learn how to snake!

Glacius0

Hey Hitto. Just wanted to say thanks for the topic. Even though I probably won't go to Africa, it's still nice to hear about it in a non-commercial way where they just praise everything.

Hey, that's what the web is about! My philosophy is to always believe the person which doesn't have anything to sell you