May 21, 2012 - Dakar, Senegal

May 21, 2012 - Dakar, Senegal

We docked this morning before 7am and are now awaiting clearance to go ashore. We are going to Ile de Goree to see the slave history sites. Evelyn is already nervous about missing shopping. On this cruise Princess has has a free shuttle in every port. This is a departure from past practices. I have noticed a lot of improvement in the support of independent travel. They are providing a lot more information on doing things on your own not just on a Princess tour.

We left the ship at 8:30 am for our tour. It was a chartered ferry so we were picked up quite close to our ship's berth. It is about a 15 minute ride to the island. We were in groups of about 30 people. It took a while to get organized and the one group visited the slave house and the rest took a walking tour of the island. It has been inhabited since the late 1400s and between 1536 and 1848 ( the date France abolished slavery) between 15 to 20 million Africans were sent to the Americas as slave, over 6 million died in transit. According to what we have read approximately 40 million African's were captured during the 300 years slavery was practiced. How many actually made it to the new world is unknown.

During our walk about we were being trailed by many sellers of local merchandise. We brought two hats for $10 and then got two more for $5. We brought four small sand paintings. The sand paintings are a local craft where sands of different shades are used with a glue made from a local tree called "The Monkey Bread Tree", A couple of t-shirts and some local jewelry.

We then returned to the slave house (the current one was built in 1776) for our tour. It is heartbreaking to see the conditions that the people were forced to endure and the inhuman treatment. The door of no return is the last time they would ever see Africa. This door leads directly to a sea wall and you either get on the ship or are pushed into the sea.The island is the most westerly point in Africa and as such is closest to the Americas. This is one of the reasons that a great deal of the slave trade was here.

Our last stop was the Fort and we got a interesting explanation of life in Senegal. Over 80 percent of the population is Muslim and many have up to four wife's.

Of the five West African countries that we have visited Senegal is the most developed. The city of Dakar, which is the capital, was founded just over 100 years ago even though it has a fine harbor. Before that most trade took place near or on Goree Island. In 1677 the French captured the Island from the Dutch. The French controlled Senegal until 1960 when they were given independence. During WW II there was a naval battle between British/free French and Vichy French, who controlled Senegal. The battle was called off after several British battleships were damage and Senegal stayed in Vichy control until 1943.

We returned to the ship for lunch and the decided to take the ship's shuttle to Independence Square and walk around. Many people were selling the same things we had already purchased. Don and Myrna decided to go back to the ship, but Evelyn wanted to look around some more. A local latched on to us and wanted to show us where the central market was. We couldn't shake him - he wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally we turned around and started to walk back to the shuttle and some how Evelyn insulted him ( so he thought) and he wanted to know way I let my wife insult him. He wasn't angry or threading but it was very uncomfortable. He even went so far as to ask Hal how he could allow me to act that way...didn't he (Hal make the decisions). We finally made it back to the shuttle stop and the shuttle was just loading and we found Don and Myrna on the shuttle. In the end I gave the guy a couple of dollars. As I was getting on the shuttle, through the crowd of sellers I could feel someone trying to get into my packet and I slapped the hand away. It is something you need to be aware of, on the shuttle from the ship a local guide told us to be careful because there would be pickpockets around the shuttle stop. We never felt afraid in any of our stops and we were not afraid here.

We had dinner in the buffet with a couple who have the cabin next door to us. About 10 years younger then us and very well traveled.

The entertainment was a magician who I could have done without. We were not close enough to the stage to have a good view and he really didn't do anything new.

We are taking on 200 tons of fuel and are still at the fueling dock at midnight.


Sent from my iPad

Hal