We take advantage of the long weekend and head north to visit the historical ex-capital of Senegal, Saint Louis.
In the 1800’s, Saint Louis was the political capital of Senegal and the heart of ” Senegal and its dependencies “; capital of French Western Africa and its four territories: Senegal, Sudan (Mali), Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. It was also a capital of ‘pain’, being one of two main slave trading centers on the African coast.
N’dar (as Saint Louis is locally known) is a city steeped with culture and history and just wandering the streets gives you a real sense of the old colonial times. While many of the buildings are quite dilapidated, there are remnants of Portuguese and French architecture throughout many of the streets.
Eventually we made our way through the bustle and into the old town, crossing the Faidherbe Bridge, which was designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame, to get to the heart of the 18th-century colony.
Saint-Louis is also intimately linked to the history of Aéropostale, a pioneering air mail service developed after WW1, established as a regular air link carrying mail between Europe and Latin America.
We stayed a night at the historic Hotel de la Poste, whose origins go back to 1850, although the building dates from a later time and the hotel is full of photos, old letters and posters from the 1930’s Aeropostale era.
We head out to see the local fish market brimming with people and as many fish. There are the local pirogues , small fishing boats everywhere, with tables with drying sardines, iced baskets full of silvery fish, and trucks leaking streams of bloody water into the streets.
We stop for a coffee at a real cool shop that serves everything from actual brewed coffee (not instant coffee), cool art, speciality drinks (camel milk…?!), and Senegalese juices. It’s another great place to take a break from exploring the city and absorb nice vibes and enjoy their cool decor.
We finish the afternoon with a visit to the ‘Langues de Barbarie’, a bird sanctuary that stretches over fifteen kilometers of sand dunes and trees from north to south of Saint-Louis. We take a small pirogue across to the sanctuary where we can admire A remarkable site where you can admire pelicans, cormorants, herons and egrets…. just to name a few.
Our stay in Saint Louis comes to an end, and we drive south to explore the world’s smallest desert called Lompoul. From Lompoul village, we have to take a 4×4 vehicle the 4 kilometers into the actual desert to reach the Ecolodge where we are staying. When we arrive, we are offered a Bissap juice which is a local Senegalese beverage made from the species of hibiscus flower. Our stay at the Ecolodge is very comfortable, equipped with outdoor tents all in a horsehoe and a main outdoor area set up for pre dinner drinks. We eat as a community in one of the bigger tents, then after dinner, we sit outside and enjoy the bonfire and drums and singing.
The next morning, we finish up with a short camel ride through the dunes. Its beautiful… what fun!
what an interesting place. Is there much evidence of the slave trade?
How fun, wish we were there. Enjoy the rest of your time in Africa as July is rapidly approaching. Then you will have other adventures to share. Hopefully one day, we shall share some together.