January 30, 2024 – Somone, Senegal
Feb 8th, 2024 by rallyadmin
The plan for today was to stop for the night in Dakar, Senegal but that is turning out to be a bad idea. There isn’t regally much reason to do that other than to say that we have done it. And the traffic is reported to be epic.
We start looking for an alternative and find a 2 bedroom apartment in a beach town named Somone south of Dakar. The price is only €56 and comes with 2 baths, a kitchen a sitting area and a pool. And it’s closer to the Gambian border. What’s not to like? We’re off to Somone.
Just as we’re leaving the Zebrabar, Team 9, Guy and Johnny, decide to convoy with us. They are going into Dakar but they’ll join us for the drive and we’ll continue to Somone.
We take one of the two possible routes to Somone. One uses what little toll road there is in Senegal. The other has less tolls and stays closer to the coast. It’s the shorter route and the route that is less likely to have police check points. We have documents that should prevent any issues at check points but there’s no reason to tempt fate.
Plus, we’re trying to leave Senegal with as little local currency, the CFA, as possible. We’ll need about 6,000 CFA for tolls if we take the toll road and that will probably blow the amount that we have for food and beer. We have plenty of euros but they are sometimes difficult to use on the road. So, the back road is the route we take and we are rewarded with a nicely scenic ride.
As we get closer to Dakar, we start to see large manufacturing facilities and warehouses. Dakar is the capital of Senegal and the investment money doesn’t get very from the capital. And our back road route ends with us getting on the mostly empty toll road.
Soon, Team 9 splits off and heads for Dakar and we continue on to Somone. Off the toll road and a few more kilometers we’re in Somone. Google Maps decides that the shortest rout to the apartment is through some very dusty and heavily potholed dirt roads. Cute little diversion from our friends at Google. But, in all fairness, Maps does get to the apartment.
Surprisingly, the apartment and the surrounding property are better than the Booking.com writeup, a rarity. The apartment is on the second floor and the rooms are as advertised. This will do nicely for the night.
It’s about mid-afternoon and time for a swim. The pool area is quite nice and the pool is very clean and inviting. But the water is cold. I stay in for a while but retreat to a deck chair for some sunbathing. Clemo, ever the Brit, stays in much longer. I guess these Brits really are used to cold sea water. What’s a little cold pool water to them?
Later, we’re off to the beach front which isn’t much. The area is trying to become a beach destination but they have a long ways to go. We find a small restaurant and get a good meal with some good beer. Though Senegal is an Islamic country, they are much more liberal about alcohol so alcohol is much easier to find in Senegal. A couple of beers sure do end the day nicely.
Back to the apartment and bed. Tomorrow, we cross into Gambia and end the Challenge in Banjul.
Obi-wan