Senegal Day 1: from the Airport to Dakar

So here I am: I landed in Dakar.

I landed at 10:30pm courtesy of Air France’s abyssmal quality of service (but they make great safety instruction videos). I find discovering a city by night to be interesting (I thing I will be using that word a lot here). Some usual questions may arise and they help you get an idea about a place:

• how early do the people there sleep?
• is there enough electricity?
• are the streets safe?
• are economic activities visible at night? (notably goods transportation)

Airport is the first thing traveller see of a country. The one in Dakar is pretty small and looks new. We were greeted by a sufficient number of friendly personnel even at that time of the day. From my experience, the finish, layout and materials used give this airport a very Chinese feel. Let’s see in 2-months what the departure zone looks like (which is the most interesting part of any airport).

Outside of the airport, I was greeted by a taxi drivers who proposed me a ride to Dakar. From the money changing lady at the airport, the average fee should be around 20,000 FrCFA (around 30€… the official EURXOF rate is 675.17). I negotiated beforehand a 23,000FrCFA fee… I got a 15% premium over the average price. I think I got a pretty decent foreigner tax. What do you think?

On the road, I learned about some facts about the taxi trade in Dakar. The taxi was new (under 40,000km) and from a Chinese brand. The roads were very new and everything was done the French way. Outside, very few sources of light to be seen. I could still some random and seemingly isolated real estate projects on the road.

I have no clear words to describe Dakar as I passed very quickly. I like getting an idea by walking slowly. I guess my only words for now are “your typical city in an emerging country”. The streets are narrow. I saw children playing on the streets and people selling Senegalese staples at 11pm (in a street filled with… “exotic scents and flavors”. Gasoline electricity generators can be seen regularly.

One funny thing about the streets in Dakar so far is that catwalks seem to have been a second (or third) thought in their urban planning. I imagine each architect of the different buildings is also responsible of the portion of the pavement in front of their buildings. It seems each one of them tried to be as original and creative as possible while spending as little money as possible in making the pavement. Needless to say that it turned walking with a suitcase in dark streets into a very interesting experience. Fortunately, I travel light and my suitcase is all-wheel drive (minus one wheel, courtesy to the luggage handlers at the airport).

I felt very safe while working around at 11:30pm. People who see me are friendly and willing to help (as I don’t exactly look like a local). Very few cars were to be seen.

At the place I will be staying for the next 2 months, I was greeted by a friend of the one who recruited me. He is Russian and left his country just shy of a decade ago. He never went back. I have heard numerous accounts of this phenomenon from various people I have talked to about this experience.

Let’s see what happens.