By Monday, we were starting to get in the swing of things. Breakfast from 8-10, wind surfing at 9:30 or aerobics at 10, sand volleyball at 11, lunch at 1:30, beach for the afternoon,or ping pong, drums from 3-5 or a nature walk at 4, and then more volleyball at 5..., see the pattern here? Maybe a walk on the beach to see the sunset then dinner at 7:30 and afterwards, the evening entertainment. Never a dull moment.
We met a lot of great people, 99.9% of the visitors were french. 98% of the staff were African, and the others were french (the chef, the fun director, & the bar manager). Everyone was very curious why we were there, and why we would come all the way there from the US, but it was quickly explained and then the fun began, getting to know each other's stories.
On Wednesday we went on the mini safari.
It was my favorite excursion.
The place is called Le Foret (forest) de Bandia and is a wild game preserve of hundreds of acres. We set out in the early morning, and it was a bit cold (sunburned as we were) but it was a clear day, and the sun quickly warmed things up. In Dakar there are these amazing Baobab Trees that get to be over 40' in circumference. They are all over the countryside and the insides of the fruit, when it dries has a dry chalky sweet and tart flavor, that is supposed to be good for settling one's stomach. By then, I could use some stomach settling. It is also a favorite monkey food, called pain de sange. The tree and all of its parts are extremely important to the survival of the tribes in the rural areas.
While on the tour, we saw some amazing animals, very close up. My favorite was the giraffe, but we saw several kinds antelopes, water buffalo, rhinos, ostriches, wild boars, monkeys, crocodiles and huge tortoises. They aren't all native, but they are all right there to see. AND THE BIRDS -- they were too difficult to photo, but the colors were fantastic and the calls were amazing. The trip lasted about 4 hours, but I could have gone all day.
