Thursday, July 31, 2008
Ile de Karabane: View from Campement Le Barracuda
The place we stayed at was called Campement Le Barracuda. I think the reason it's highly recommended is because they serve good food and the rooms are not that bad(although thankfully I have not yet had to see any worse than this). I got up early to try and catch the sunrise. Since I was traveling tripod-less, this is the best I could do at dawn under the low light. It rained all through the night and most of the morning which is probably why there weren't a lot of tourists.
Tourist Spots: Ile de Karabane
I'm so glad that instead of heading straight to the Gambia after 2 days in Cap Skirring, I decided to go to Ile de Karabane. To get there we took a taxi from town into Oussouye then a Ndiaga Ndiaye (bigger minibus-like taxi) over the dirt roads to Elinkine, a fishing village. From Elinkine, we took a pirogue(local fishing boat like the one in the photo) ride to the island. It's got historical buildings as it used to be a trading station for the French (the first in the region) and it's supposedly where the Casamance River meets the ocean. It would have been much nicer to go exploring if it weren't raining so much. The boat ride back was pretty crowded and when it started to rain they raised this huge waterproof sheet above our heads but it smelled strongly of fish and I get sea-sick easily so it was not good!
But there are so many things this little island has to offer: history, culture, wildlife. I'm a lot happier with my photos from here this time around so I'll post them one at a time.
Tourist Spots: Cap Skirring
Hoping to see the world through both my eyes (Translation: Less Photos)
Despite my better judgment (i.e. when I try to post only my good photos), I am posting my Cap Skirring photos. Since this is a blog anyway and not a photo exhibit, I think I can post my not-so-nice snapshots. Sometimes, but not always, it’s better to see the world with both eyes than keep one behind a viewfinder. But this is just partly an excuse for not having photos as striking as I would have liked.
The wide stretch of white sand may be pretty impressive since the beach here is known as the best in West Africa , but the beach was not the highlight of my trip. Personally, I think I have yet to see beaches that truly rival the beauty of the beaches in the Philippines
Despite my better judgment (i.e. when I try to post only my good photos), I am posting my Cap Skirring photos. Since this is a blog anyway and not a photo exhibit, I think I can post my not-so-nice snapshots. Sometimes, but not always, it’s better to see the world with both eyes than keep one behind a viewfinder. But this is just partly an excuse for not having photos as striking as I would have liked.
The wide stretch of white sand may be pretty impressive since the beach here is known as the best in But having less photos doesn’t always translate to having less fun. In fact I had an awesome time on the beach, meeting new friends, drinking, shopping, having a barbecue and waiting out a thunderstorm down by the beach. And what do you do when your photos don’t look so great? Jazz them up with photo-editing software and you can make anything ordinary look intriguing. I used Picasa from Google on the photos I didn’t love and it's easy to get carried away but I’m trying to use this only as a last resort which means I’m trying to take more photos I love.
This was also my first time ever to ride a sept-place(bush taxi which literally means 'seven places')! The company car took me from Kolda all the way to the garage at Ziguinchor and I took my first ever ride that took I think around 2 to 3 hours (correct me if I'm wrong because I fell asleep) and wasn't as bad as I'd expected because luckily I'm pretty small and fit well even in cramped vehicles. It was very convenient as it took me all the way into town. Here are just some of the things, other than the beach, that you can do at Cap.Shopping
There are a lot of cool art shops at Cap Skirring but I didn’t take any photos of them because I wasn’t going to buy anything (my bags were heavy enough and I still planned to go to the
Make a Yassa Cocktail
Yassa is a traditional Senegalese sauce with onions, lemon and spices that can be served with any meat or fish and rice. It also happens to be the name of the creator of this wonderful cocktail by mixing bissap (traditional juice made out of hibiscus petals), bouye (traditional juice made out of baobab fruit), gin (alcoholic drink made of distilled grain juniper berries), lemons (picked off the tree at the campement), and ice-cold water or ice. Some mint would have been excellent too!
Have a Thieboudienne
There are many versions on how to spell this traditional Senegalese fish dish (pronounced che-boo-jen) but they serve this everywhere in
Go Animal-watching in Cap Skirring
What they don’t tell you in ‘The Lonely Planet’ guidebooks is that the beach at Cap Skirring is pretty animal-friendly…which is good if you like birds (unfortunately my lens isn't long enough to capture them), lots and lots of cows and a few dogs.
Have a Barbecue by the beach at night
If you’re staying at Cap Skirring, there are a bunch of bars, clubs and restaurants in the center but these are usually quite far from the beach and taking a taxi to get to them can be a little pricey (perhaps somewhere in between 800-1500 FCFA depending on how big your party is). It was an excellent idea to go to the market, borrow a grill from the campement, buy some fish and vegetables at the market, and cook our own dinner by the beach. It actually turned out pretty good despite a really heavy thunderstorm and no electricity for the whole day and we were able to stay at a little restaurant by the beach to keep from getting wet. Smoke, in my opinion, could make for some interesting photo effects too.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Tourist Spots: Popenguine
Somehow the name of this place always reminds me of popping penguins. This little village 60 km south of Dakar is pretty calm and peaceful (except for the noisy croaking frogs at one of the hotels). I went there for the long weekend during Easter. The beach is lovely (though cold), the sunsets are breath-taking and the stars are brilliant. You can go hiking up the trail by the beach before it gets too hot in the day. This is the last of my Tourist Spot Photo series before I finally Inch Allah post my photos from my recent week-long vacation in Cap Skirring, Ile de Karaibe and the Gambia!
Last Scenic Drive from Dakar to Kolda Part 2
Here are some more photos that survived the last drive to Kolda from Dakar. They include some baobab trees, women selling fruits to passers-by, a type of Senegalese public transportation which is like a minibus and is called Ndiaga Ndiaye, and one of a washed out flower that grows in the Casamance only during l'hivernage (the rainy season). It's amazing how the week before I could have sworn the baobab trees had no leaves yet! That means the rainy season is really here! Dear Kolda, you will be missed!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Kolda: Spotted
The goats of Kolda never fail to crack me up. They're everywhere! I once shared a taxi with a man who just stuffed his goat into the cab's trunk as though it were an ordinary piece of luggage.
Tourist Spots: Ile de N'gor
A quick taxi ride and a short pirogue ride away from Dakar is this charming little place I went to one long weekend. It's got good food, nice beaches and best enjoyed with good company.
A funny story about the first photo (the pineapple lady): My co-worker got so upset that she didn't remember him...but what made her so memorable to him? When he once bought pineapples from her, she used the same knife she had used to cut up the pineapples to clean out her fingernails next!
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