St. Louis

The ride to St. Louis turned out to be 4 very long, hot hours. I wondered what I was thinking when I packed a hair dryer. Even though riding in these vehicles called bush taxis is rough, it is also quite interesting. First of all, this was one of the few chances to talk to Senegalese women. When the bush-taxi stopped along side the road from time to time, we were mobbed by women and children selling mangoes and peanuts. The children will often ask for a "cadeau" (gift) and one even asked for my watch. It is advised not to give gifts in this manner as it promotes begging and demeans the kids.

For an extra 1000 CFA, I got the bush taxi driver to take me all the way to the Hotel Mermoz. This was a great hotel, a ways out of town but right on the beach. The going rate for a taxi into town is 1000 CFA, and it was nice to be in a more relaxing area for a bit. I had a huge room, complete with air conditioning and mosquito net for 18600 CFA. Speaking of mosquitos, when going to Senegal it is necessary to take malaria pills while you are there, and continue for one month when you return. Since the pills don't actually prevent malaria, just help you from getting really sick and maybe dying, you need to try and avoid the bites as well. I am very prone to bites, so I was slightly worried about this, but I made sure to apply spray at night, and I also had a mosquito zapper to plug into the wall. I guess all that worked as it is now 6 weeks later and I didn't get sick.

I had come to St. Louis to try and arrange some trips to the parcs. The only one I could get to was the Langue de Barbarie, as I was told there was nothing to see this time of year at Djoudj. Traveling off-season alone proved to make excursions more expensive, as I was unable to find others to split the costs. For 21000 CFA, I arranged a 5 hour private guided tour. Our first stop was the Guembeul Reserve where we saw turtles, antelope and gazelle. I was able to get pretty close to the animals which was pretty cool. The next stop was a pirogue ride in the Langue de Barbarie to look for birds. Even though it was not the season to see a lot of birds, there were a few and it was a nice trip. Heading back to St. Louis, my guide spotted some red colobus monkeys just off the road.

My remaining two days I spent exploring the town and relaxing by the pool. One day while I was in town a huge storm suddenly blew in while I was eating lunch, sending everyone running for cover. I also shared some tea with some guys from one of the stores. The tea ceremony which they explained to me consists of 3 consecutive, but different pots. The first is said to be "strong like a man", the second, "gentle like life", and the last, "sweet like love".

Photos: Click image to get full view.

Guembeul Reserve-Turtles	Guembeul Reserve-Antelope	Guembeul Reserve-Antelope
Guembeul Reserve-Gazelle	Guembeul Reserve-Gazelle	Guembeul Reserve
Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie
Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie
Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie
Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie-Pelican & Egret
Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie	Parc Langue de Barbarie-Crabs
These Crabs Are Really Quick, but He Caught One For Me	Parc Langue de Barbarie	We Walked Across This to Get to the Parc
We Spotted these Red Colobus Monkeys While Driving Back from Barbarie	Hôtel Mermoz	Hôtel Mermoz
Hôtel Mermoz	Hôtel Mermoz after the Storm	Hôtel Mermoz
Beach at Hôtel Mermoz	St. Louis	St. Louis
Pont Faidherbe	Car Rapide	Hôtel Mermoz
Hôtel Mermoz	Hotel Kitty

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