Dakar, Senegal
April 19, 2024 - Our tour today was the Highlights of Dakar (8.5 hrs). We were tour #1 and the first off the ship and had a short drive to the ferry boat terminal for a 25 minute ride to Goree Island. There were about 30 people on this tour today and we arrived at the ferry terminal early for the 10 AM departure so we were sure to all make it on the ferry together. Once they opened the line for the ferry we were in a sea of humanity all pushing to get on the ferry, locals who work on the Island and tourist. Many of us wound up standing in the aisles as they just kept putting more and more people on the ferry, there was standing room only. Men and women in their beautiful outfits with matching head dresses in vibrant colors. 95 percent of the people in Dakar are Muslim and today was Friday, but we understand that they always dress this way. Most of the local woman and men on the ferry were street vendors and began right away talking to tourist about coming to her shop on the Island and they would give us a good price on their merchandise. Apparently there are no real shops, many mostly women with young children on their backs walking around, in these beautiful long dresses, following tourists and selling their merchandise out of large and small bags. They give you a price which was very high and hoped to get it but mostly you needed to negotiate with them, which we are certainly not very good at. It is such a hard life the people in this region live, especially families who are just trying to make it day to day, standing out in the hot sun chasing after tourist, who sometimes pay as little as possible for the merchandise.
The island looked beautiful as we approached the shore, but it has a very sad and horrific history. We first visited the Maison des Esclaves, a former market for purchasing of African slaves. Today this sight is a museum and sharing the dark period of the history that took place here for almost 400 hundred years. We saw the inhumane conditions where both men and women were kept 20-25 men in one small cell with only one tiny opening for air and they were all shackled both hands and feet. The women, children and young girls had a slightly larger cell, but many more were housed and they both lived in horrible conditions. Families were spilt up and sent to different countries depending on who bought them. Once sold they walked through the “Door of No Return” onto a ship where conditions were just as bad or worse, due to conditions as disease was rampant and more than 8 million Africans lost their lives over the years. How can we as humans do this to other human beings is so difficult to understand. The sellers and traders lived right above the slave cells in bright area rooms. Our guide called it a 400 year Hellocaust and compared it to the Jewish Holocaust (8 years). We all know of the slavery our Country shamefully took part in, but think little of what the people of African had to endure before they even came to our shores.
We then walked to the other side of the Island and visited the Fortress Museum that had several very simple exhibits with mostly pictures that covered the history of the Island yet not focused much on the Slave Trading. We also visited the one church (Catholic) on the Island, and some of visited inside and prayed for the many souls that endured so much on this island and beyond.
Maison des Esclaves -
20-25 men were kept in this small cells until they where shipped across the Atlantic.
Cell for Women and children
Door of No Return
We then headed back walking along the beach and stopped one of the local restaurants for lunch and were able to share with fellow travelers about our experience at the museums. The streets were very narrow and no cars were on the Island, it would be a beautiful place for a retreat/resort if it did not have such a dark history. We also were able to visit a local artist who paints with glue and different colors of sand. We then boarded the 2PM Ferry to head back to the City. On our trip back many young Muslim ladies joined us on the trip back to Dakar. They are all students that go to the Muslim school on Goree Island during the week and go home on the weekends.
Sand Artist - Paints glue on wood then adds different colors of Sand
The City of Dakar is the Capital of Senegal and located on a peninsula. We drove along the shore road and passed City Hall, the Presidential Palace as well as many foreign embassy buildings. We then stopped at the largest mosque in Senegal, located on the coast which was built just 4 years ago. There is currently an even bigger mosque under construction in Dakar. Our next stop was the Monument of African Renaissance, built to celebrate their Independence. The bronze statue towers against the skyline and can be seen for miles around as it is on top of a hill and is 164 feet high, and 198 steps up to the base of the statue. The building of this monument was not welcomed by the majority of residents as it cost millions of dollars and was build by North Korea and they did not hire locals. This huge monument was built at such a huge cost and yet all around it people live in poverty. Senegal just had an election in the end of March and the person they elected was released from jail and is now the new president of the country. He was in jail as he was leading the protest against the former President.
African Renaissance Monument
