Musings on Dakar - Part 1 (most likely...)

Welcome to Léopold Sédar Senghor  (Dakar) International Airport 

I have only been here a short time, but I have already noticed so many things that stick out to me. Some of them stick out because I have simply been transformed to a different climate, different culture, different language and different life. Others though, simply do not have explanations because in any context, they simply do not make sense. In no particular order, this is my list of impressions of this hot country of which I have only touched upon...

• The unofficial taxi driver coalition in Dakar believes that if enough of their members honk at you, you will eventually get in one of their taxis and pay for a ride.

• In terms of equal standards, accommodation costs are slightly higher than Scadinavia, yet taxi rides are about one-twentieth the cost, even though the cost of fuel is roughly the same (on the other hand, the standard of the taxis themselves, can't really be compared...)

• It is nigh on impossible to find a self-service laundrette. But there are plenty of "pressing" shops that will clean your clothes (I have a feeling they actually dry-clean...) at a handsome cost per item (a load of basic washing just cost me 16,800 CFA / $33)

A busy round-a-bout with 3 Nescafe vendors (2 seen here, partly
blocked by a ubiquitous yellow taxi)

• Instant Nescafe from a street-seller in a tiny plastic cup is the height of coffee culture, and can be found on every street corner.

• Forget Japanese, European and American cars, Iranian and Indian cars rule the roads here!

• Forget BP or Caltex, here we have OilLibya!

• Like most non Anglo-Saxon Western coutries, the people are some of the most warm, welcoming and genuinely friendly people ever. Spend a day driving a new colleague aroundn to help him find an apartment? No problems. Invite a relative stranger into your house for a meal? Of ourse. Whilst overfriendliness tends to raise alarm bells with me, the worst thing that is likely to happen here as a result is daylight robbery by the street-seller or taxi driver.

• Locals do not need real-estate agents. Finding an apartment is as simple as following these steps:

Suburbs of Ngor/Almadies - near the office

1.  Drive around the neighbourhood you like.
2. When you see a guard in front of a building, or someone who looks bored on the side of the street, stop and ask them if they know of any apartments available to rent.
3. If they only know one, and they are otherwise busy, they might point you to it. Otherwise, they will hop in your car and take you around to a couple of places they know who are renting places out (mates, colleagues, etc.) If you take a place you're recommended, you give the guy a tip (which, compared to the standard real-estate commission of one month, paid by the RENTER, is nothing), otherwise, you drop him back at the side of the road.

• It doesn't matter how hard I try saying "une eau minérale, s'il vous plaît", I still have to point and raise a finger to indicate that I want a bottle of mineral water.

•  It is perfectly normal that a suburb of the capital is called "Breasts", because it has 2 rounded hills that stick up out of the otherwise flat landscape, but in other respects, we are in the past here...



Traffic really isn't so bad on the main roads outside of peak hour.

•  3 post offices serve a capital city population of over 2 million - they do not actually deliver post to residential addresses though.
• it is perfectly normal to see animals in the streets (either wandering the streets randomly or dragging a strewn together cart with a flat wooden seat)
• apart from the main streets, most streets don't have names. They simply have a number, which together with the suburb name are used to identify them. Actually, never mind that, most streets are what I would otherwise call a patch of desert between 2 parallel rows of houses.
• homosexuality is still illegal.

• Hand towels in bathrooms are optional. I am yet to work out whether people do not wash their hands after doing their business, or simply wipe their hands on their clothes (I have chosen to do the latter).

• Streetside curbs (on the streets, not on the stretches of desert sand) are 1 foot high! The island between the carriagways, also, a cement block, 1 foot high. The only reason I can think of is to try and tame the traffic - to ensure the cars stay within the bounds of the roads. It is quite evident that in the paths that aren't streets, cars do not restrict themselves to 'lanes'.

• Speaking of islands between carriageways - if you want to make a left turn off an arterial road (we're not talking a highway, but the equivalent of your suburb arterial), the island prevents you from doing so. You pretty much ave to go to one of the major intersections (ie., a round-a-bout), and chuck a u-e (always wondered how you're supposed to spell that?!?!)

• Small change is a necessity. Whilst normally, paying a $3 bill with a $10 note, or a $11 bill with a $20 note would be perfectly acceptable, here, it means the receiver might have to go find someone who can provide change. People must have small change reserves at home. I would have done well here as a kid when I liked collecting 1 & 2 cent pieces!

The view to the East on runway 18 in Dakar (see below for a close-up view
of the construction activity)

•  Certain aspects of Danish design have made it here - only the worst ones - bathroom related. The toilet/basin/shower in 1 square metre of bathroom has been sighted a couple of times, and the lack of shower curtain around the area one would normally mark of as the 'shower' is commonplace.

•  With the amount of construction going on in Dakar, you'd think there are a million people moving in tomorrow. There are a lot of construction projects that have either collapsed midway, construction is extremely slow here, or there is going to be a huge increase in supply in the very near future!