Dakar Tour
Hello there! I did something quite interesting last month: I went on a tour of Dakar.
A tour of Dakar for someone who was born and raised here??? Well, Dakar is such a great city and has so much to offer. There are still so many places I have not really seen. So when a friend of mine asked me to join her on this tour, I said yes. The tour is organized by Ziggy, a local travel influencer. He usually does tours and trips in other regions of my country; I think it is his first time doing Dakar.
Unfortunately, a day before the tour, my friend contacted me to say that she could not join because her child was sick. So she gave her ticket away to anyone I wanted to invite. I called my BFF and on Sunday we were off to the Monument of the Renaissance which was the meeting point. We arrived right before 11 am and spotted the other participants or the tour and our host for the day. The first stage of the tour was the Monument of the Renaissance, which is one of the tallest statue in Senegal. I have been there several times before but only stayed outside. This time I went inside where a guide showed us around. Inside the statue there are three floors. The first floor is a little museum with videos showcasing how the statue was build. There were also pictures and statues of important historical figures of our world from Rosa Parks to Gandhi. The second floor has statues depicting several ethnic tribes living in Senegal. But also some art made with locally weaved fabric. The third floor was the presidential living room with statues gifted by other countries at the inauguration of the Monument. The final stage of the tour was to be set on the hat of the statue which is a belvedere where you can have a 360 view of Ouakam, the distrcit of the statue. I did not expect the place to be that small but the view was breathtaking.
After visiting the monument, we rode a Car Rapide or local bus to a mosque in Ouakam called Mosquee de la Divinite (or Divinity Mosque). We did not even enter because some of us were not dressed properly. But we took some pics outside and got to hear about the history of the mosque.
Car Rapide or local bus
The next stop was La Place du Souvenir, near the Sea Plaza mall. The organizers had to go get some water. I had to admit that the day was very hot. While waiting, my Bff and I went to a nearby ice cream shop and ordered some Mojito ice cream. It was nice to sit around in the air conditionned shop. Actually the Car Rapide is a nice way to get around town but the bus does not have any kind of air conditioning. The only air we get is coming through the windowns while we ride.
Anyway, after that brief break, we headed to the district of Medina. There, we were met by another local guide who showed us around that district while giving us some historical facts. Medina happens to be one of the oldest in Dakar. It was named after the city of Madina in Saudi Arabia. The guide told us about the Lebou ehtnic group, who often refer to themselves as the owner of Dakar because they were the first to settle in the capital city. He explained how the district was separated into 12 areas with 12 chiefs. At the head of these chiefs, there is the Grand Serign, their leader who is elected when his predecessor passes away. The actual Grand Serign used to be the Ministry of Youth when I was a teen. We ended the tour in Medina by seeing what used to be the childhood home of our national star Youssou Ndour, who transformed it into a building which houses his radio.
After Medina, we headed to Kermel market in downtown Dakar. There we passed through the famous market and headed to a make shift Dibi restaurant. Dibi is the local barbecue. Senegalese people love it because it is tasty and usually does not cost a lot. We were seated in carpet made of plastic, and waited for our food to be served. The barbecue mutton was served on used cement bag with diced and marinated onions, some mustard and spices.
Althought it was unusual for me to eat that way, I actually enjoyed the food. I was missing some bread and french fries. But apparently real Dibi does not come with those. After the meal, we were offered watermelon slices and local tea.
We also had time to introduce ourselves and disscuss. I took the opportunity to plug my side business. We left around 4 pm. For some reason my Bff and I headed to Jet Cafe Beach to end the day. By the time I arrived home it was almost 9. It was a wonderful day.
I had mixed feelings about the tour. Truth be told, I was expecting more. Actually I understood that I may not be the target of this tour when I learned that 90% of the participants were either tourists or expats. I also did not like the fact that our guide in Medina was more focused on showing us Mosques. I mean it was interesting and all. But I am not sure the others were really into it. When I think of Medina, I think of the culture, the art and that was what I expected to see. A part from that, I was okay with the entire thing.
For more, please go to my Instagram to see a reel of the fun day I had.
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