Entering the Sine-Saloum Delta

Position: 13:56.080N 016:45.520W Date:
This was what we had all been waiting for – the trip into
the vast delta of the two Senegalese rivers, the Sine and the Saloum. Travelling
to exotic locations like With tears in their eyes, Tom and Lawrence left for the
airport on Friday evening. Just as well
In flies Colin, brim full of bullshit and wisdom, to take over the role of devoted and hard-working crew member (I do wish the other rally members wouldn’t say things like “Hi Colin, so you’re the next victim are you? And how long will you be lasting?”). His infinite talents include demon bird-spotting and he and Sine-Saloum delta are a partnership made in heaven. But before he made it to this twitchers’ paradise, he had
to make it from the airport to the hotel that was hosting the rally’s stay in
“ I have been sent to collect you”, said the young man, “What is your name?” “Colin Andrews” “Yes, yes, Colin Andrews, that’s right. The hotel has sent me. Now, you will need some currency. I will arrange to change it for you.” The transaction was carried out before Colin’s eyes to see fair play. Colin assumed that his £50 was being changed by a bloke standing by a pillar with a large wad of notes in his hand, rather than at one of the foreign exchange booths, to achieve a better rate of exchange on his behalf. Colin was grateful to have such a thoughtful guide and mentor looking after his interests. Colin’s new best friend took him to a taxi and they both got in. Due to an uncharacteristic lapse, Colin had forgotten to bring a note of the name of the hotel. What luck he had been collected! “Remind me”, said Colin after they had been driving for some time, “what is the name of the hotel we are going to?” “I’m not sure” said the personable young man “they just
called me and told me to collect you”. By now, the slightest alarm bells were
beginning to ring. After driving into town through roads that looked like they
had recently been shelled by Americans, and through a process of elimination,
they arrived at the hotel an hour later. Colin was told that the taxi fare was
10,000 local Francs – quite a chunk out of the 16,600 he had got for his £50
(doubtless the honest currency dealer had had a momentary lapse as it should
have been about 75,000 francs). Then, having deposited Colin at the
hotel, his guide told him that the fee for his valuable services would amount to
a further 10,000. Colin was now beginning to smell a rat, and gave him only
5,000 (he only had 6,000 francs left anyway). The coup de grace of this budding
entrepreneur was to take 5,000 off me saying that Colin hadn’t been able to pay
him anything. So, Colin’s taxi trip had cost him one hour and £50 for what
should have been 20 minutes and about £5. Welcome to
Meanwhile, I had spent all day getting my water-maker
fixed and waiting for my repaired cruising chute to be delivered. The
water-maker motor was delivered back to the boat at The following morning we set off 60 miles southsou’east
to the Sine-Saloum delta. Two hours into the passage and the water maker motor
packed up again. It was going to be a hot, sweaty and largely unwashed stay in
the delta. The entrance to the delta used to lie at the bottom of a very long
peninsula. In 1987 there was an incredible storm. The tempestuous seas burst
through the middle of the narrow peninsula, destroying a village with great loss
of life and leaving the bottom end of the peninsula an island, separated from
the mainland by a narrow passage. The fleet rendezvoused off the entrance to the
passage and were led through by a pirogue, one of the long, narrow, wooden boats
used by the local fishermen. We anchored off the small fishing
Early the next day all the rally crews assembled on the
beach. Being Sunday, we were going to church. The previous afternoon, I had
taken Colin by dinghy round the fleet to introduce him to our friends.
Thoughtfully, he had brought from the
To judge the people of
In the middle of the village stood a tall drum made from the trunk of a tree and tightly covered with a goat skin. This was the village tom-tom and is the only means of communicating with the outside world. Only the village elders have the right to use it and the children are not even allowed to touch it. When someone dies or there is a fire, or some other emergency, the tom-tom is used to communicate with the next village 12 kilometers away. The next village would then pass the message on to the next village and so on. We stopped for a while under two large trees, one a Fromage tree from which the tom-toms are made, the other a Boab tree. Their trunks had intertwined. They were sacred to the villagers, representing the unity of the community’s two religions – Islam and Christianity. The villagers loved photographs being taken of them and looking at the results on the camera screen. The children were a particular delight, running along beside us, and holding our hands as we walked through the village. Inquisitive about our poppies, it wasn’t long before they were complementing the intricately plaited hair of the girl children. The Senegalese are tall, slim and high cheek-boned and they walk with a long gait, ramrod straight. Whilst being desperately poor, the rivers abound with fish and shell food so they don’t go hungry. The overall impression was of a handsome dignified, and largely content community. On our return we walked round the
This is the real
|