West Africa III: Southeast Senegal--Holy City and a Soccer Ball (10/22/23)

On October 22, 2023, we drove to Touba, the holy city of Mouridism, a Sufi sect of Islam.  We were on our way to Gambia, known as the "tongue of Senegal" because of the way it intrudes into Senegal, in a long strip, from the Atlantic coast.  The representative of the mosque decided that neither Mike nor I were properly dressed to enter the mosque, so he provided some proper clothes for us, as well as for our fellow tour members.

Gambia is orange, within the green map of Senegal.  Dakar is halfway up the Senegal coast and Touba, the second largest city of Senegal, is directly east of Dakar.  We stayed the night in Kaolack, on the main road leading diagonally from Dakar to Gambia.

There are Sufis all over the world, as well as members of the Mouridism sect, and they helped fund this magnificent mosque, one of the largest and most elaborate in Africa.

A representative of the mosque walked through and around the mosque with us, explaining its features.

 

A group of male worshippers sat the mosque courtyard, discussing the scriptures (I suppose!), just as I imagine men gathered in the synagogues in Jesus' time.

Women could listen to the services only when veiled and in an enclosure outside the inner mosque.

In the mosque, as throughout West Africa, we saw contrasts between traditional life and modern life.

Another contrast between the woman in traditional African dress and the young man in levis.

Were these guys worshippers, or just enjoying a cool place to relax?

Our tour stopped for lunch and snacks as we drove.  This cafe had bright red curtains that turned the room so red that even Adobe Lightroom couldn't remedy it!  We drank tropical fruit juices throughout our trip--mango, guava, passion fruit.

Our next stop was a typical Wolof village.  The Wolofs are the largest tribe in Senegal.  This village farmed and herded goats and cows.  They were beginning to replace the typical mud or stucco houses with concrete block houses with tin roofs.  There was a motorcycle or two in the village, and a TV or two.  They were moving up the ladder of prosperity.  One of our tour members, Janet, carried with her deflated soccer balls, pumps, and school supplies, which we distributed at each of the four or five villages we visited on our trip.

The wash was still done, in this village, outside in big tubs.

Food prep was done sitting on the ground in an enclosure of branches, next to a charcoal "stove" made of concrete blocks.

Our tour guide passed out a big bag of suckers, which the kids promptly popped into their mouths.

At each village stop, the children come running, wanting to hold hands and asking if we would give them our water bottles or glasses.  “They like to touch your white skin to see what it feels like,” Claude said. I found that the children also liked to look at the pictures I took of them on my camera. If I could get one child to let me take his picture and then show it to him, the other children would gather round to have their pictures taken, too.  

This picture made me wonder who that little girl was, where she was going with such determination, and what her future would be.

On the drive to Gambia, we also stopped at one of the many stone circles which, together, form a UNESCO Heritage Site.  They are made of volcanic rock, very heavy, and must have been dragged for many miles by prehistoric people.

Archeologists speculate that they were burial sites for royalty.

Mike went to great lengths to take his beautiful photographs.

We spent the night in Kaolack, a port on the Saloum River, 95 miles southeast of Dakar.  It exports peanuts and salt.

                            

Adventures Abroad is an upscale tour company, and all of its hotels are either “best“ or “best available.”  Although this hotel was in an out-of-the way place, it was in the “best” category. I was amazed at the difference it made, after a hot day of touring and driving, to spend the evening in a really beautiful hotel.

We could see large salt deposits across the river from our hotel.

The next morning, as we drove on to Gambia, our local guide pulled a peanut plant from a neighboring field to show us.

We stopped for lunch at a lodge along a river in Gambia. “It is funky,” Claude described the lodge, since it was several classes below the accommodations Adventures Abroad provides. However, that funky lodge had charm of its own. A list of activities was posted by the restaurant, which included cooking classes, 4 x 4 drives into the jungle, fishing expeditions, and boating on the river.