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Senegal’s landscape has a lot in store for its visitors: sand beaches, Sahel zone, steppe, forests and adventurous river canyons. The bigger part of the country is below an altitude of 100 m. For West African circumstances Senegal is a well developed country. Tourists are welcome.
Dakar, the capitol, is located on the Cap-Vert-Peninsula, the point farthest west in Africa. Dakar is a mirror of West Africa. Especially its gigantic harbor contributes to the rhythm of the city. Dakar’s bakeries and tea houses are a witness of its French colonial past. As a visitor one should also check out Marche Sadaga, the largest covered market in town. Here one can experience all possible smells and moods of Africa. Here one finds a diversity of fruits and vegetables, pearls and incense as well as a great variety of African cloths. If you are a motorcycle fan you should definitely visit Lac Rose. Every January the Rally Paris-Dakar ends at this place.
The lake sparks in a rose-red color which occurs due to the many minerals and salts which are dissolved in its water. The north is sparsely inhabited. The landscape is barren. Thorny bushes dominate the surroundings. The Senegal River is totally the contrary. The river outlines the border to Mauretania and winds with its fertile banks like a green colored ribbon through the Sahel. The ancient French colonial capitol, Saint Louis, is located at the mouth of the river. The town is defined by its colonial houses and markets as well as an uncountable number of Pirogs.
The latter remind a little of its past as a fishing village. Niokolo-Koba is a National Park in the southeast of the country. If one is lucky one will be able to enjoy seeing elephants, buffalos, antelopes and lions. The park is the largest connected nature reserve in West Africa. It is located right at the border between the dry savanna and the wet forest and therefore offers a vegetation rich of contrast. To get to the interior of the country one will pass through savanna, Acadia forests and lots of sand and dunes.
Senegalese delicacies are for example Chicken au Yassa (chicken with lemon, paprika and onions), Tiebou Dienne (rice and fish), Dem à la Saint-Louis (stuffed fish) and Maffe (chicken or mutton in a peanut sauce). Inhabitants drink a lot of peppermint tea. One should also taste domestic palm wine, either fresh or fermented.
Some geography:
The Republic Senegal stretches across an area of just about 200,000 square kilometers and has about 10 million inhabitants. The citizens are a combination of more than 20 ethnical groups. Wolof, Peul, Diola, Mandingue and Soninké are only a few of them. Official language is French, but several different tribal tongues are spoken as well. More than 90 percent of the inhabitants are Moslems. The Senegalese celebrate their national holiday on April 4th. |
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