Domaine Les Paletuviers Toubakouta

After an expensive splurge in Dakar, we decided to opt for cheap and cheerful accomodation at the oh so obscure YMCA in Serrekunda. Sent on a wild goose chase by the locals who as in India refuse to admit they are unaware of directions to ANY destination, we eventually ended up in a basic but respectable room in the centre of The Gambia's biggest town. Ten minutes drive away from the resorts and so removed from the touts and ...

When our wallets were seriously slim from the delights of Dakar we decided to move on but although Basse Cassemance in the south of Senegal sounds like such a special place it is plagued by separatist issues and so seemed unsafe as our next stop. Tempted by an overnight ferry trip to the region's capital city, Ziginchour that would see us wake up amid the stunning scenery and ...

... was lovely and leaving wasn't easy at all. <br><br>Anyway, we had<br>diving in Dakar to distract us and so soon settled into the incredible<br>Oceanium right beside the sea and sorted ourselves out with a<br>dive...back out at gorgeous Goree...couldn't keep us away eh! Being<br>back beneath the waves was wicked and as ever worlds away from any<br>experience on land. Lovely!<br><br><br><br>XXX<br><br>XXX<b r><br>

... to Kaolack took about 4 hours in a sept place (station wagon) and then we stupidly got on a minibus for the rest of the journey,,,big mistake! had to wait about an hour and a half for it to fimm up with passengers and then when we finally left it drove at about 15mph along a very dusty and potholed road! Some very interesting charachters on that bus! Arrived in Toubakouta when it was dark...imagine no ...

... a small amount of cultural sensitivity goes quite a long way. In terms of local food culture, I highly rated the chicken and beef domoda and yassa dishes, which were relatively simply put together, but did not compromise on the overall taste factor, and since a substantial portion of the country's revenue is generated by the fishing industry, freshly-caught fish is commonplace. A miniature version of a Gambian drum ...

The gare routiere at Dakar is a field of dilapidated old jalopy station wagons parked in a puddle of mud and filth. Instantly people approach and direct you to the next car leaving in your direction, once the seven seats are full. You haggle over a couple of dollars difference like it's your kids college savings. Men blow you of with the back of their hand then return again for more. I take my seat and watch the driver say a ...

... was on the water about 5km up the road. We all decided since it was such a beautiful morning, why not just walk it. Lamen told us that we could call him at any time but we felt bad calling so early. After about 20minutes of walking and having a very interesting dicussion with this army man, we saw a toyota approaching, it quickly passed by us heading south. The solider told us that this man would come back for us on the way back in a couple of minutes. Jori's words: The previous ...

... in the day and something felt like nothing could get worse then yesterday. We finally filled up the sept-place and were on our way by around 10:30, this one not nearly as quick as the one we took to Tambacounda 3 days earlier. We got into the main septplace garage and quickly jumped in a taxi to the boarder garage, where we had to grab a taxi across the boarder, the time was around 1:00pm and we knew what was coming... lunch time break in service. There were two people ...

I have a confession to make. It's been burning a hole in my conscious like a guilty secret and I have to spill. Please don't judge me too harshly or let it change your opinion of who I am. I am very much afraid that I am in danger of becoming an Ornithologist. For years I've laughed at people who sought their excitement in something as tedious as birds. I can remember being infuriated by them in South Africa. Trailing ...