The Signs of Senegal

Parking exit sign on the Place de l'Independence, Dakar, Senegal.

The decorations are from Christmas and the World Festival of Black Arts AKA le Festival Mondial des Arts Negres

Children crossing sign in Saint-Louis, Senegal.

A sign in Fadiouth, Senegal forbidding non-authorized vehicles. Strange logic: It was a tiny, sea-shelled path with barely enough room to walk. 

To the left is a pedestrian bridge. I was standing on a pedestrian path when I took the photo. What vehicles?

One of my favorite signs. Ever. Possibly in the history of ever. Who knew an Assembly Point sign could be so intense?

A Senegalese driver told my non-Senegalese friend that this sign meant that it's a dry area so you shouldn't light a match. Because that's a match not an exclamation point (aka caution!). Seriously. And you wonder why West African drivers aren't the best...

Corniche, Dakar, Senegal

Les Almadies area of Dakar.  It reminds me of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Why?  Because of this famous image from the delightful book.

Selling in the Plateau

A street vendor on Avenue G. Pompidou, Plateau, Dakar, Senegal

Items being sold in this photo: prayer rugs, jump ropes, board games, clothing...

Avenue Pompidou, Dakar

Sandaga market in Dakar's Plateau neighborhood

The beginning of the gigantic Sandaga market

Clothing venders on the outskirts of Sandaga market, Dakar's largest market

Two boys crossing the Place de l'Independence, Dakar

Avenue G. Pompidou in Dakar

Lights, Camera...Action?

Who knew there was an active film scene in Dakar? I didn't...

Place de l'Independence, Dakar, Senegal

Waiting for the bus on Place de l'Independence

Shooting the breeze on the Place

Some of the necklaces for sale in Dakar

These necklaces are actually made from coconuts!

World Festival of Black Arts

These banners are all over Dakar (still!) advertising the

World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal

(or in French: le Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres)

The Presidential Palace's Banner for the Festival, it reads:

"The long walk from slavery to the renaissance"

from L-R: House of Slaves and the Door of No Return, Martin Luther King Jr, 

Nelson Mandela [who wrote The Long Walk to Freedom], Thabo Mbeki, Barack Obama, 

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, and the African Renaissance Monument

Banner welcoming Gambian President Jammeh on Rue de la République, Plateau, Dakar

Other banners welcomed other African heads of state like Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), Qaddafi (Libya)

 Lights went up on trees, poles, corners, everything imaginable in preparation for the festival

Rue de la République, Plateau, Dakar

 French telecom company Orange erected this awesome tree for the festival

Place de l'Independence, Plateau, Dakar

Another view of the tree

If you look close, you can see the Festival's logo on the globe in the middle of the (empty) fountain

Place de l'Independence, Plateau, Dakar

I saw Baaba Maal as part of the Festival!

What is the Festival?!

Christmas in Dakar

 Inside the Christmas Tree on the Place de l'Independence -- Dakar, Senegal

[sponsored by Orange for the World Festival of Black Arts AKA

le Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres]

 The tree on the Place de l'Independence -- Plateau

 Christmas Tree street vendor -- Plateau, Dakar, Senegal

 The Tree!

 The Place de l'Independence decorated

 Avenue du Président Léopold Sédar Senghor -- Plateau, Dakar

 Place de l'Independence

Rue de la République -- Plateau, Dakar

Goodbye, Rainy Season!

A storm coming in from the Atlantic Ocean

Soumbédioune, Dakar, Senegal

What the storm looked like over the Place de l'Independence, Dakar Senegal:

 

 The remnants of the rainy season in Dakar

The Harmattan Arrives

sunrise behind the Pullman Teranga Hotel -- Place de l'Independence
Dakar, Senegal

The Pullman Teranga...after the Harmattan has arrived

The Port and Place de l'Independence on a sunny day -- Dakar, Senegal

The Port after the Harmattan's arrived


Where's the Port?



What's the Harmattan? Good question!

New Years Eve in Dakar

Fireworks in the Place de l'Independence

Place de l'Independence - View of the Port of Dakar