A guide to Dakar
In February 2018 I made a shortlist of cities. Based on very little information I chose Dakar, and I chose well. Senegal is an easy country to feel at home in, and I recommend anyone thinking of visiting to book that flight.
From London it was hard to get a sense of what Dakar is like. Most content is in French or Wolof. So, for anyone interested, here follows my perspective on a city that keeps on giving.
What you’ll see
Taxis being cleaned. The first thing I really took note of was the amount of taxis and other cars that line the roadsides getting a scrub down. Vehicles may be battered, but in this sandy, dusty city, they shall be clean. You’ll see men bent down, vigorously soaping and scrubbing tyres and dents.
Everywhere you go, at whatever time, you will see people working out. On a small patch of sand, in flip-flops, at 3am.
Even far outside Dakar, near the border of Mauritania, on a wild beach, the nearest building a 2 hour walk, every 20 mins or so, you’ll see a man appear in the distance, jog past you, and carry on out of sight.
I am sure the prolific amount of exercise is related to the easy, happy temperament.
Take note of the Senegalese backward jiggle. Feet hip distance apart, bent forward, bum in air, pull both feet backwards at the same time. Repeat.
The constant exercise makes you feel like this is a city engaging in life, and it is infectious. I quickly embarked on a fitness regime, hanging out at one of the large outside gyms that sit atop cliffs buffering the Atlantic.
You don’t see much smoking. Weed sometimes hangs in the air and cigarettes are sold everywhere, but most people don’t smoke. Being majority Muslim people don’t really drink either, but they do talk late into the night over tea.
This is my colour palette of Dakar.
Sand, everywhere.
Dakar has an extensive shoreline. Some of it stratified, sheer cliffs, other parts are long beaches and small coves. As it is a peninsular, the sea is never very far. By the end of my trip, most days I would visit one beach or another either to work out, read or swim for an hour after work. I found Plage Mamelles to be the right mix of lively with pockets of quiet and plastic free.
The clothes! You can’t help but revel in the clothes. Most people frequently wear tailored apparel, and you’ll see tailors abound.
I ached to participate so I commissioned a jumpsuit in the blue fabric with orange flowers in the picture above. It didn’t work for a number of reasons, ‘jumpsuit’ was a new concept poorly explained, the print didn’t look good on me, and I embarrassed the 6 Muslim tailors (and myself) by falling out from behind a flimsy curtain mostly naked. We live and learn.
I did however, find these awesome shoes.
You’ll see people carrying things on their head. The most impressive was an immense stack of eggs.
You will see and interact with a lot of children. 50% of the population are under 20 years old. The African population is exploding, by 2050, 1 in 4 people in the world will live in Africa. This is brought home as you see group upon group of kids, usually segmented by gender and all roughly the same age, roaming the town hugging, playing, and contemplating.
Babies are carried on backs. You will not see any prams. Watching young families in the UK, it does feel like we are encumbered by a lot of stuff.
You will see people praying. On the street, swapping prayer mats between friends. You will also see a lot of construction, and might note the prolific amount of new mosques being built.
You’ll see people cooking tea or café touba, especially in the evening. In small metal tea pots, over charcoal. The long process of properly cooking and mixing the sweet sweet mint tea is called Attaya. You will be often invited to share in this process and drink tea with friends and strangers.
Unfortunately you will see a lot of plastic waste. Plastic bags were banned in 2016, but it made little difference - most people will use many single use plastic bags every day. You will see them in the sea and on the trees lining the road out of Dakar. You might also see this guy being an absolute legend. His name is Modou Fall.
You will see art everywhere, and quickly get the feeling that Dakar is a creative city, particularly if you visit during the biennial — the arts festival that takes place in spring every even-numbered year. Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of Senegal was a poet and invested heavily into the arts. If you want to get in with some young artists, stay with Aissatou who works for the Raw Materials Company, in her Airbnb.
Lastly, you will forever revolve around the gargantuan statue of the Strong African Hero and his wife, Lara Croft. I do love its audacious size and the windswept power of the trio, although a large communist style statue of a smoking hot family built by North Koreans does feel like an odd choice to commemorate Senegalese independence.
What you’ll hear
This city is not for the light sleeper. Goats, mosques, churches, ducks, cocks, drums. During Ramadan the sounds are increased and extended as people pray and get up to eat at around 5am.
“Toubab!” Thats you.
Music! Everywhere. Including the wonderful fusion that is the Senegalese Cuban movement. This facebook page is useful for finding out whats going on in the city, but most bars will have live music on the weekend. Most beaches have people playing Jembe in the morning and evening.
Very long greetings between strangers and friends alike. Dakar is the only capital city I have been to where strangers say hello to each other.
Waves crashing.
Occasionally, complete silence. If you yearn for a moment of true peace go to the Stadium Leopold open on Saturday and Sunday to visitors, the stables called Cercle de l’Etrier de Dakar in which feel like you are stepping back 200 years, or stay at Martine’s Airbnb and sip bisap on a balcony overlooking a 400 year old Baobab tree.
What you’ll eat
Generosity and sharing is a big part of Senegalese culture. Sharing without expectation of return, no matter how little you may have. This characteristic means travellers quickly feel accepted and able to participate. Unsurprisingly, the thing most commonly shared is food. Give half your mango to someone you’re waiting in line with, share your water with a kid, sit down and have tea with an elderly man, take the phone repair dude up on a dinner invitation with his family.
Peanuts, Bisap (hibiscus flower stewed in water), pan de sange (baobab fruit). All of the above, most days, with sugar.
This, surprisingly, is how peanuts grow.
Being vegetarian is trying. “There is no such thing a vegetarian African” say many Senegalese. “But do you eat chicken?” ask others.
Portions are huge.
Thieboudienne, Jebu jen, or ceebu jen. People are passionate about this dish. Stewed veg and fish, tomato paste and rice cooked in the stock. You see large vats of tomato paste sold in the smallest of corner shops. If you stay with a family they’ll probably cook it. Eat with your hands. Other favourites included Alloco (fried rounds of plantain) and attieke (cous cous made of cassava root) always served with a beautiful tomato and onion salad.
Insanely hot chilli salsa.
Most cuisines are represented in Dakar. Usually one restaurant per cuisine, and you will often find the people of that culture frequenting it. I enjoyed eating dahl, watching Bollywood videos and speaking English at this Indian, which is great for vegetarians. You can also find Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Ethiopian, Italian, and lots of American grease.
Baguettes. The ubiquitous hallmark of France’s colonial footprint.
Green mango sprinkled with chilli, salt and sugar, sold outside schools. Get in line with the rest of the kids and fumble around with your Wolof.
Eggs, thick slabs of butter (5p per slab) on a baguette with pepper. On buses out of the city you buy boiled eggs with a cinnamon spices mix from women on the side of the road. Or, you can buy a mango and work out how to eat that with 18 people in a 7 seater and no napkins.
Gazelle and Flag are the local beers. I prefer Flag.
Nescafe, baby. Half coffee, all sugar. Coffee sellers on the street will mix your instant coffee from great heights, over and over again.
Getting around
There are very few specific addresses in Senegal. The office I worked in didn’t have one.
Every 4th car is a taxi and they will “toot toot” for your custom. Even as you get out of a taxi, another taxi will pull up and ask if you want a ride.
Many of the taxis are in total disrepair. I was travelling with 3 kids in a cab when the back wheel fell off. The driver hopped out, realised that there had only been one nut securing it, and duly removed nuts from the other wheels to keep it in place.
The buses look incredible, although I could not make head or tail of the system. You can flag some of them down and ask them to go where you want. Others have a pre-defined route.
I mainly got around on a bicycle. It takes about 1.5hrs to cycle the entire length of the city. On large roads I would cycle on the pavement, and some of the roads where too sandy to pedal through. Otherwise, cycling through the backstreets was lovely.
If a road had tarmac, then is likely to be in great condition. Although there are an f-tonne of cars, the roads are relatively calm, traffic is rule based and honking is at a minimum.
Traffic can get bad at rush hour. If you lucked out with an enterprising taxi driver, he (always a he) might drive onto the pavement and pass the other cars.
Where to stay
Down Town/centre ville. City vibe. All roads are tarmacked, tonnes of people, tall buildings, some very old. Late night bars, parks. Stay at Serbonne’s place for a fantastic base.
Sacre Cour. Some pretty houses, not much happening, but a favourite Senegalese restaurant called Seoul is there. Offices, schools, sand.
Point E. A bit more hip and arty. Raw materials is based here. I also found a salsa lesson and a beautiful (expensive) Spanish restaurant.
Mamelle. Expatty. Great beach. The monument is here, as is a light house bar that can be relied on for a party. Cycle or run up to it in the day time for a sweat and a view. Mamelle is open, sandy and calm.
Almadie. Tonnes of sea lined bars and restaurants. Expatty, lively, great music, a beautiful, rugged bit of coast line. Surf at Secret Spot, and get a tasty veg baguette for £1. For a fantastic wifi spot go next door to Chez Fatou.
Medina. Not a souk like you might expect. Wide streets, lots of families living in close-ish quarters. Groups of people playing music in the street at night, no sit down restaurants, goats everywhere. Stay with a wonderful man called Cherif who looks like Tom Hanks. He wants to rent his house out for 6 months so he can study in Paris and set up a permaculture farm elsewhere in Senegal. Interested?
Ngor. The island is full of artists and tourists of all kinds. The village on the mainland is full of gangs of happy kids that will play beach games with you. Locate a guy called Samba on the beach (he will no doubt find you) and get him to show you around the town - do donate something to the co-op shop at the end. He was one of my favourite people.
Yoff: not that pretty, lots of surfers, long beaches.
Ramadan
It was special to be there during Ramadan. The strong sharing culture is amplified as people share a daily hardship and rejoice by breaking the fast together each evening. I broke my first fast down a beach near centre ville, with a guy who lived in a home made of car tyres. We had a one way conversation about his relationship with Allah as we collected mussels and cooked them over a fire.
If you happen to be in a car during the Coupé (breaking the fast) then people will stick their hands through the window handing out coffee, baguettes and dates.
On Eid, the final day, I was invited with my dad who was visiting to a family’s house in Pikine. They had bought my dad a tunic and trousers and made me a dress. We ate together and then walked around the town, promenading in our new clothes like everyone else. When you chanced upon someone you knew, you would shake hands and ask them to forgive you for your sins.
Being a woman
I never felt unsafe. Roaming Dakar at night, I felt the same as in London. On medium alert, trusting my instincts. Not once did I employ the just-start-jogging-because-who-is-going-to-chase-someone-that-is-already-running tactic. I often sat down for tea with people on the road side at midnight.
Most young guys will ask if you’re married once you strike up a conversation. Most older men will not ask. For maximum control, wear a wedding ring, and learn how to say “Am na Jakur”, I have a husband. If its a method you are comfortable employing, it is a winner.
In Dakar, wear what you want. Some women are in headscarves, many have their arms or shoulders bare, they are unlikely to have their legs bare, but many expats do. I was comfortable in baggy trousers and a strappy top.
What things cost
If you live like a local, living is cheap. If you want anything that is imported or nicer accommodation, then costs mount pretty quickly. I lived for about £25 per day including accommodation and travel.
Pasta from the supermarket is 2500 CFA(£3) a pack, from a restaurant it is 8000CFA(£10). A big bag of veg from the market will cost about 1000CFA (£1.30). A 10 min taxi ride costs 1000CFA(£1.30), a 1 hr taxi ride costs about 3000CFA(£4). Green mango with spice is 50CFA (8p)
My heavy old bicycle that would have cost £30 in UK was £100 in Dakar.
Whether to learn wolof
Do it.
- It’s relatively easy. Unlike when I tried to learn Japanese and after 6 months could just about identify the characters, I picked up the basics of Wolof in a couple of weeks. You conjugate the pronouns not the verbs, which means once you have learnt how to conjugate I, you, they etc in different tenses all you need to do is learn lists of verbs that never change their form. You’ll notice that there is little agreement on spelling.
- It widens the net. Most people in Dakar speak both French and Wolof, however some older people speak no French and many people’s French is limited.
- You’ll make friends quicker.
Lastly, some recommendations I haven’t mentioned
- Watch: Sembene!, and then any of his films that spark your interest.
- This Guidebook. He writes like a human.
- Bring an android phone and pick up a sim card at the airport. Use the ATM there too, no need to bring money and change it.
- Restaurant Le Bourgeois for the best Attiéké in town. Everyone here is from Cote d’Ivoire and will no doubt invite you for a party.
- An airbnb list
- A Spotify playlist
- I read and would recommend: God’s Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousman, The Business of Education in Africa, the State of Africa, and listen to Mungo Parks’ Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa on Audible.
- This fabric shop in HLM (it’s on the corner). An incredible range of 6000CAF for a bolt of 6 yards.
Let’s sum it up
It’s hard to capture a city, but I hope that this list of detail combines to give you a flavour of the open, happy, alive city that I experienced and loved.
