Picto Diary - 07 December 2018 - Dakar, Senegal
Above: Welcoming Committee. Dakar, Senegal. 07 December 2018.
Image captured from onboard Regent Seven Seas Explorer as she enters harbor, Dakar, Senegal.
Dakar is a major financial center, home to a dozen national and regional banks (including the BCEAO which manages the unified West African CFA currency), and to numerous international organizations, NGOs and international research centers. Dakar has a large Lebanese community (concentrated in the import-export sector) that dates to the 1920s, a community of Moroccan business people, as well as Mauritanian, Cape Verdean, and Guinean communities. The city is home to as many as 20,000 French expatriates. France still maintains an air force base at Yoff and the French fleet is serviced in Dakar's port.
Beginning 1978 and until 2007, Dakar was frequently the ending point of the Dakar Rally. (Wikepedia)
Our guide, Dou Dou, said that authorities are thinking of restarting the Paris Dakar rally in 2020. Since 2007 risks of terrorism along the route have attenuated.
Above: Boabab tree. Dakar, Senegal. 07 January 2018.
Above: Bishop with Lebou children. Yoff village. Dakar, Senegal. 07 December 2018.
Above: Lebou people (fishermen) perform Ndeupp Dance. Yoff village. Dakar, Senegal. 07 December 2018.
Above: African Renaissance Monument. Dakar, Senegal. 07 December 2018.
Bridge and TIMDT admire monument.
Erected in 2010 on 50th anniversary of Senegal independence. North Korean sculptor. Copper through and through.
Girl on father's shoulder points in the direction of America and says, "let us in." Mother, at left, points to the ground and says, "remember our roots."
At least, that's the explanation given by our guide, Dou Dou. — in African Renaissance Monument.
Above: Mosque de la Divinite. Dakar, Senegal. 07 December 2018.
95% of Senegalese are Muslim. Guide goes at great lengths to say, "We Senegalese are peaceful Muslims."
Above: Goree Island. Dakar, Senegal. 07 December 2018.
The area around Dakar was settled in the 15th century. The Portuguese established a presence on the island of Gorée off the coast of Cap-Vert and used it as a base for the Atlantic slave trade. France took over the island in 1677. Following the abolition of the slave trade and French annexation of the mainland area in the 19th century, Dakar grew into a major regional port and a major city of the French colonial empire. In 1902, Dakar replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa. From 1959 to 1960, Dakar was the capital of the short-lived Mali Federation. In 1960, it became the capital of the independent Republic of Senegal. (Wikepedia).
Addendum:
Dear Steve,
Why is the rainfall so different between Sao Vicente and the other Cape Verde islands?
Did your bus driver buy his license from Costco- on sale?
If I remember correctly, the bald tires on the MIAT airplane were on the plane that took the medivacked trio back to Ulan Batar.
Life goes on circles.
Cheers,
Ahn Rhree,
Larkspur, CA