My route through Senegal wasnt the most exiting. In fact , it was pretty boring for me.
Later I realized I should have gone inlands from when I entered Senegal and then only later descend down to town of Dakar.
And the only reason to go to Dakar (and the busy coast) is visa for Guinea (althoug this could have been done online).
After super exciting and glorious landscapes in Mauritania, Senegal was a shock to me, suddenly everything was populated (absolutely no peace) and landscapes were boring.
Thats where I realized I hate these coastal citites and main roads, but unfortunately its not that simple.
People cycling west Africa usually visit these coastal (main) towns to get visas for the upcoming countries.
Of course the coast can be glorious looking if you find nice beaches but even this is not easy and doesnt exist everywhere.
In Gambia and Guinea Bissau there was definitely some opportunity for visiting coast but by then I was already tired of busy coastline roads and just wanted to escape inlands (what I did after Guinea Bissau).
Ever since I entered Senegal everything became very lush, green and lots of water everywhere. Very different compered to Mauritania.
Its amazing how something just a border change make country completely different.
Camping in the bush. Senegal became very thorny and everthing was thorns (grass, bushes, trees..)
Given the fact I havent used tubeless tires yuou could easily get a puncture by just pushing the bike from the road into the bush in the evening when looking for wild camping spot.
Town of Richard Toll
When walking down the street its inevitable someone will join you and because your frend.
This rtime I was looking for a hotel and there was somebody to help. Of course in the end most of them want money so if you dont want to give charity (tips or however you want to call it) its better to make this clear from the start or refuse any help whatsoever.
Hotel in town of Richard Toll I stayed in for a few days. Hotel has an afro style which I liked.
It was the first hotel I took since I entered Senegal and since the border of Mauritania. I never had any rest in Mauritania (except for the oasis of Terzit ) so I was eager to find something when I got into Senegal.
Rooms were little small but usable.
Camels in some national park. This was th elast time I saw camels for while in Africa and I miss them for sure.
It was special to see them in Sahara!
All towns are pretty much the same, full of trash with countles small stores where you can hardly buy anything.
Yes, there are a lots of things on the shelves but in reality this includes not just food but many other resourses and in the end, its a real struggle to buy anything in Africa.
Magnificient sunsets. The air apcal-search-tag-item-selected here is clear outside of cities.
My diner ostly consist of past or rice with vegetables. This is what I prefer and its quick and easy to prepare.
Just cook pasta and add tomatos, cucumber, paprika, onion... and of course olive oil on top.
Camping in the bush .
This part of Senegal was relatively easy to find wild camping spot hidden from ever existing population.
Met two cyclkist doing a loop, they were traveling with an overland truck and they would take their bikes for a few days to cycle around.
They said they already crossed Africa with a bicycles when they were younger but now they are back with a truck.
Funny monkeys can be found everywhere. And they sound in real life like in the movies :)
Dakar was horrible to cycle in and out, must be the worst and the most intense city I have ever cycled in.
Trucks, cars, vans, bike, bicycles, people, donkeys, horses, people, sand..( you name it) everybody sharing the same road. It was an absolute mess!
My room in Dakar, I spent here few days.
My host in Dakar.
Marvelous to look at Baobab trees!
Camping next to Baobab tree.
I ended up here by accident, simply because I was avoiding paved roads and even though navigation showed I was on the road, quickly after turning from the actual road I found myself first on gravel, then quickly on singletrack and the path almost dissapeared for a while then merged with some sandy gravel road, but I was in teh middle of the open area, with nobody in sight.
Locals are often very excited to get pictured, but at the same time this does not stop there.
Often they would ask for money afterwards which si plain ridiculous.
I wish I speak all the languages so I can express myself and how I feel about their statements at the time.
Africa is not all pretty.
In contrast trash is almost everywhere, inside and outside of cities and its plain ugly to see this.
I simply have no words when I roll into some town, I see locals resting in the shade, sitting in their own trash (and trash bins are nowhere to be found)
And all they have to say (most of the time) is asking for money.
And they cant even clean their own trash.
I wouldnt give them a penny even if I was the richest person in the world.
Again, my lack of language knowledge (and there are many languages to know in Africa) is stopping me to express myself what do I think about their statements (when they ask for money) when they cant even clean the trash around them.
Or they do not care.
Either way itsw the same for me.
Crossing Nelson-Mandela Bridge 1.3 kilometers (longest in Senegal) bridge near the town of Foundiougne
These dirt roads actually most of the time offen some peace and quiet because there is less traffic.
This does not apply always and sometimes such roads are full of trucks and the dirt is another level.
Gambia
Extreme begging here
People here speak English (which makes it even worse in my opinion because they know you most porbably understand them and this makes them even more pushy)
I only spend a day or two crossing Gambia and was waiting to come back to Senegal.
Some sort of wells often found on the side of the roads in Gambia.
Still I would not trust this water and I had to filter everything.
Crossing river at Banjul with super overloaded ferry.
No person would fit anymore at that ferry.
I should have taken another road going east without the ferry (which I did not see on the map at first)
Ferry was so overloaded and was moving at swiming pace (or at least it felt that way).
I though it would sink.
This is a common scene on the side of the roads in Africa.
You can find wood work (beds, wardrobe...) all kinds of sofas (often wrapped in different coloured leather)
Overloaded guys were lacking no smiles
Before the town of Ziguinchor I met with Paul , a German cyclist doing west coast of Africa as well.
Houses in Guinea Bissau become somewhat better looking, at least with some style.
Big anthills
Fancy looking houses which I havent seen before in countries like Senegal
It looks like paradise but its not really.
These water is not a lake but more of a mud and swamp so swimming is not possible here.
This definitely is nothing but shallow mud, and you cant even step close without sinking deep into the mud.
Finding some peace in the woods
Crossroad
One side goes into town of Bissau, the other leads east.
When I first found myself here my inital instinct told me to go east and avoid Bissau altogeher.
My cycling partner Paul went into Bissau earlier than me, found some accomodation and send me info where he stays.
Plan was staying overnight and taking ferry to one of the islands next day.
I decided not to avoid being alone again and headed down to Bissau (road descends somewhat).
I didnt like much the accomodation there (wifi was not usable at all).
I even gave up on visting island of Bolama (whcih we discussed) because I saw on the photos (another cyclist sent me who recently was there), that the beaches on this island were not something to get super exiting about.
You could see it was mostly shallow mud around the island, and not deep water which I like.
I decided I will just take a ferry to the other side (to Enxude)
Next day when I appeared at ferry dock to buy a ticket (which costs maybe 2000 cfa) it turned out the same ticket for foreigners was almost 10000 cfa, which is a bullshit.
At this point, I said fuck it all, turned around and went cyclking back out of this city.
I didnt want to even deal with another overloaded ferry ( like the one to Banjul)
Exactly what my instinct was telling me day before, I should have never come down to this city because I just want peace and quiet.
So despite my half broken bike, I decided to head far east into the wilderness and cross into Guinea from Gabu to Kundara.
So I ended up on gravel roads (first 40 km out of Bissau) was super trafficy, which meant super dusty with all the trucks, vans and what not, but later road turned better (just for a while mind you) and the traffic died down.
So I was able to enjoy some peace (not the real peace because wherever you go , there are small villages everywhere that are not even on the maps), but I was happy becuase these lonely roads is what I prefer, not main roads and big cities (that all look like shit anyway).
Busy city of Bissau and another city. I couldnt find decent food supermarket.
Its unbeliveable how many times I was cycling long time away from the big cities , and when it was time to finally get in some bigger city (because of visas or other reasons) I couldnt even find some basic food items like yoghurt or similar.
And all the time I am approaching the city I am just dreaming how I am going to buy some basic food items I have not seen in a while.
This happened toi me in Africa many times already. You learn not to expect much.
Bissau Cathedral
I almost forgot what is means to look at beautiful churches (which Europe if full of) not that this church was extra beautiful, but it caught my attention never the less.
I dont often eat local food, because I dont need another diarrhea, but because food sources are so limited here and often I get border with constanlty eating the same thing, sometimes I just get a wish to try something else.
And here in Bissau, a sandwich was on offer. Yes, I ws very afraid of these eggs, but you cant choos e much here.
In the end, sandwich was actually rather good.
The road out of Bissau going east was super dusty at first with trucks and vans blasting pass.
Vans were often half broken, with visible suspensions issues, super overloaded and what not.
Shy kids (something this can happen as well)
Took me a while to spot this kid was actually wearing a Croatian football dress!
Sometimes scenes like this happen every so often, depending on the area you cycle in.
This can be eiter entertaining or pretty anoyying.
Ususaly this would suit me in the morning, while in the afternoon, I was already tired and just wanted some peace (which is hard thing to find in Africa).
Then I would put headphone in my ear and ignore it all.
Depends on your personality of course. Some people may like this all night long, but believe me, it can get tiresome!
These cashew apple started appearing. Some of them were almost as big as real apples.
At first I didnt knwo if this was editable, but later saw other people eat this and discovered what this actual is.
The taste is not bad, little bit bitter and strange at first but very refreshing , and fits good in this hot climate.
some days when I was missing fruit and found a apple tree, I woudl gladly eat few of these to satisfy my senses.
And its free!
I would drink about 8 liters a water a day (sometimes even more), so usually I would need to stop two times a day to fill all my bottles, and filter water.
This laster indefinitely , (I far as I can tell) , but I only took short clip.
I was not even sure if I should film this, not everybody likes being filmed in Africa.
This was one the most heart warming scene I experienced in Africa.
I was in the wilderness (far away from from big cities) were people are not used to seeing white man, and passed next to some small villages, and there was a school playground, and the children were outside.
Immediatelly everybody started running behind me and I had to stop.
Sometimes I wish I had a proper video camera to capture it all, but I am still carring my mobile phone because I find it hard to manage it all.
New level or dirt on my bike.
Everything is painted in red dust and this could never be cleaned completely, as I discovered soon, until I return home.
My video doesnt do the justice how dirty everthing actually is.
Getting very close to Gambia border now, road has turned from bad to WW2 trenches, especially after I have crossed the border.
I have crossed into Gambia from Gabu to Koundara border.
I enjoyed these last few days towards the border.
Its was defnitely much more quiet than being on the coast although still its almost impossible to be somewhere alone where you cannot hear civilisation in Africa.
Onwards to Guinea!
